Sweden and the case of Kenes: In Erdogan’s crosshairs

Turkey is demanding that Sweden extradite the escaped journalist Kenes. This has thus become a bargaining chip in the struggle for Sweden’s NATO accession. Who is the man Erdogan is dying to see in court?

It’s November 8th. Bülent Kenes is having dinner with his family at home in Åkersberga, a suburb northeast of Stockholm. The table is set. The press conference of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the occasion of the inaugural visit of the new Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is being broadcast on television.

The press conference is almost over when a Turkish journalist asks one last question. Then Erdogan says this one sentence.

A shock for the family

This says what Kenes had known for a long time. His name is on a list that Erdogan presented to the Swedish government. More than 70 people who are being extradited by the Turkish President.

Hearing his name during the press conference was a “shock” for his wife and their two children, says Kenes – but not for himself. Because, as the journalist explained in an interview with Swedish television, “I expect nothing and everything from a despot like Erdogan.”

Detained briefly in 2015

Kenes is a co-founder of the “Stockholm Center for Freedom”, an organization which, among other things, supports persecuted journalists in Turkey. He also teaches at the European Center for Populism Studies in Brussels.

Kenes has worked for various media, was bureau chief of the Turkish news agency Anadolu in New York and for a long time was editor-in-chief of the English-language newspaper “Today’s Zaman”. He was briefly imprisoned in 2015.

Escape via Athens

But it wasn’t until July 2016 that things became too dangerous for him in the country. Because after the failed coup by parts of the military, Erdogan is cracking down.

The Turkish president blames the Gülen movement for the coup. Gülen is an Islamist network that is said to have more than four million members worldwide. The newspaper that Kenes worked for is said to have been close to Gülen and is being banned.

The university where Kenes taught must also close. Kenes is in his mid-forties and decides to flee into exile in Sweden via Athens. In his homeland, he now faces several long prison sentences.

“I have nothing to do with the coup”

Kenes says today that he is not a member of Gülen. In an interview with Swedish television, he denies that he himself had anything to do with the coup of 2016.

If he really had listened to the coup plotters, he “wouldn’t be that stupid after all” and would expose himself in public in this way. No, Kenes affirms, “I have nothing to do with the putsch.”

Research in the environment of the President

Kenes accuses Erdogan of only persecuting him because he reported critically about him as a journalist. Bülent has uncovered several corruption scandals in the President’s environment. And he publicly criticized the brutal crackdown on the Gezi protests in 2013.

Still, he didn’t expect to become a key figure in a diplomatic tug-of-war between Turkey and Sweden. He is a critical journalist and Erdogan a “despot” – in this respect Erdogan’s step is not surprising. And yet he wonders, says Kenes, “Why did he just say my name?”

A human bargaining chip

Because Kenes also knows that Erdogan has practically publicly advertised him as a wanted man. He can hardly withdraw from this demand without losing face. It has become the pawn of politics.

He is concerned about the negotiations between the new Swedish government and the “Islamic-fascist and authoritarian Erdogan regime,” says the journalist. “That worries me more than the threats and intimidation.”

What remains? The hope of the rule of law

Kenes does not have a permanent residence permit in Sweden, so he has to rely on the Swedish rule of law.

A few days ago, a young reporter from Turkish state television reported on his case in the spirit of Erdogan from Stockholm. Kenes reacted in his own way. He tweeted: “If you want to do journalism, call me, have a tea with me and ask your questions. Just filming my house remotely – that’s not journalism,” he let the young journalist know.