Mehmet Güner Kaplan (born 18 July 1971) is a Swedish

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of Turkish origin who served as Minister for Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2016. He is a member of the

Swedish Green Party The Green Party (, , MP), commonly referred to as in Swedish, is a political party in Sweden based on green politics. Sparked by the anti-nuclear power movement following the 1980 nuclear power referendum, the party was founded in 1981 out of ...

. Kaplan resigned from the Cabinet after controversy regarding ties to Turkish nationalist movements and Turkish government. He came under increasing pressure after local media published photos of him at a dinner with Turkish ultranationalists, including the Swedish head of the extremist

Grey Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though grey ...

organisation, and a former leader of the main Turkish nationalist group in Sweden, who called on Turks to kill Armenians.

Life and career

Kaplan was born to

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

family in

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

; he migrated to Sweden at age 8. He was a member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

(2006–2014) and before that spokesperson for the

Muslim Council of Sweden The Muslim Council of Sweden (, SMR) was an umbrella organisation of Islamic organisations in Sweden. It was founded in 1990 by representatives of the United Islamic Parishes in Sweden (, FIFS) and the Muslim Association of Sweden (, SMuF). The ...

(2005–2006) and Young Muslims of Sweden (2000–2002). He was also a founding member of the organization

Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice (Swedish: ''Svenska Muslimer för Fred och Rättvisa'', SMFR) is a Swedish Muslim self-described peace organization. It was founded in 2008 by a group including the Swedish Parliamentarian Mehmet Kaplan and ...

, a Muslim peace movement, as well as a strong supporter of the Swedish peace movement. He was a member of the board of the Green Party between 2003 and 2011. Kaplan was on board the Ship to Gaza flotilla which tried to protest against the Israeli embargo of the Gaza strip. The Israeli armed forces boarded the flotilla on 31 May 2010 killing 9 flotilla members who resisted their boarding. On 1 July 2014, in a Fight Racism Now seminar held in

Visby Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

, Kaplan compared the young Muslims from Sweden who went to fight for any force in the Syrian civil war (including the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

) with those Swedes who volunteered to fight for Finland against Russia in the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

during the Second World War. Kaplan commented that his statements had been misrepresented, but admitted to having chosen his words poorly. In a Turkish newspaper interview, Kaplan said that it is natural for Sweden to recognize

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

as a state, and that the "occupied territories will, if Allah willing, be freed, and east Jerusalem will become the capital of Palestine." Further he said that Israel will be forced to a peace agreement. Mehmet och Feride Kaplan

He has also been labeled being an Islamist by various personalities, including the previous MP,

Nalin Pekgul Nalin Pekgul (née Baksi, born 30 April 1967) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician, nurse and former parliamentarian. She was the first Muslim woman to sit in the Swedish Parliament. Life Pekgul was born to Kurdish parents in Batman, Turk ...

of the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...

Resignation from office

In April 2016 Kaplan received criticism because he had connections to extreme Islamists in

. In particular he met the Swedish leader Ilhan Sentürk of the Turkish nationalist group the

and Barbaros Leylani, deputy chair of the National Turkish Association in Sweden, who said a few days earlier that "those Armenian dogs must die", or, that Turks must "kill the Armenian dogs," in

Sergels torg Sergels torg ("Sergel's Square") is a major public square in Stockholm, Sweden, constructed in the 1960s and named after 18th-century sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel, whose workshop was once located north of the square. Overview Sergels torg h ...

, and on several occasions with people from the Islamist organization

Millî Görüş Millî Görüş (, ) or Erbakanism is a religiopolitical movement and the ideology of a series of Islamist parties inspired by Necmettin Erbakan. It argues that Turkey can develop with its own human and economic power by protecting its core I ...

. On 17 April, ''

Svenska Dagbladet (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...

'' published a video on which Kaplan compares

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

's treatment of Palestinians to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's treatment of Jewish people. On 18 April the Swedish national public TV broadcaster SVT reported about Kaplan having close ties with the Turkish regime of

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, and that this was a part of a Turkish strategy to influence foreign governments. The two journalists from SVT said they had been researching Kaplan's connection with the Turkish AKP party for months and published some of their material prematurely when the affair suddenly exploded in the media. These cases raised questions in Sweden about the stance of Kaplan concerning extremism. On 18 April 2016, Kaplan resigned as

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. Several additional controversies with connections to Islamism in the Green Party occurred in the week following Kaplan's resignation which SVT's commentator called one of the party's worst crisis ever.”Utan tvekan Miljöpartiets svåraste kris hittills”
, SVT

References

External links

Mehmet Kaplan, The Swedish Green Party
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Mehmet 1971 births Living people Politicians from Gaziantep Turkish emigrants to Sweden Swedish Muslims Swedish people of Turkish descent Members of the Riksdag from the Green Party Ministers for housing of Sweden Swedish Islamists Islamism in Sweden