In an interview with Swedish news agency TT on Friday, Turkey’s ambassador to Sweden, Hakki Emre Yunt, called on Swedish authorities to extradite Swedish politician Amineh Kakabaveh to Turkey.

The message came after Kakabaveh made criticism in a number of media regarding Turkey’s refusal of NATO to Sweden.

– PKK has a relationship with members of the Riksdag. They work against Turkey in the Riksdag around the clock, and pressure the Swedish government to take a negative attitude towards Turkey, he told the news agency.

When asked who he was talking about, he pointed specifically to the non-partisan Swedish Member of Parliament Amineh Kakabaveh, who is of Kurdish descent and was born in Iran.

Shortly after, Kakabaveh shared the ambassador’s statement on Instagram:

– I am a Swedish citizen, and I have been elected to represent Swedish citizens at the Riksdag. It was the ambassador who should be sent back to Turkey, he wrote.

Later that evening, the ambassador denied that he wanted Kakabaveh extradited, calling it all a “misunderstanding”.

– No misunderstanding

It’s the opposite Swedish radio that the ambassador rejected his claim. He claimed that Kakabaveh was not on the list given to the Swedish government with people who had been extradited by Turkey.

However, that explanation did not buy Kakabaveh.

– No, it’s not a misunderstanding. This is what he said, and Erdogan has said that I am on that list.

– Do you think Ankara tried to correct him?

– No, I’m sure not, he replied and added:

– But I hope the Swedish government intervenes. I really hope so. At least this behavior pisses people off, and I hope, this time, racist regimes are targeted.

– Can be sweetened in other ways

– Racism at the international level

When asked by Dagbladet what he thought about the fact that he was named so by the ambassador, Kakabaveh replied that he thought it “says a lot about the Turkish regime”.

The politician believes it is a violation of Swedish democracy.

– They hunt individuals and show the Kurds as a group. This is racism on an international level, he said and continued:

– Turkey can express itself as they do, without consequences. NATO countries let them survive. They didn’t do anything. Erdogan has the freedom to always do what he wants, without Sweden or Norway reacting.

Kakabaveh denies that he has any connections to the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) which lists terrorists in Turkey, the European Union and the United States – but not Sweden. He also said that he was never in an open fight with Turkey, but a democratic struggle for human rights.

Criticizing NATO countries

In an interview with Dagbladet earlier this week, Kakabaveh contacted Norway for being too kind to Erdogan.

– The Nordic countries, including Norway, are naive and cowardly. Everyone bowed to Erdogan, so he had all of Europe in his hands, he said at the time.

He was always critical of Sweden being a member of NATO, so Turkey became an ally. He also believes that other NATO countries should mark greater opposition to Erdogan.

– My message to everyone in the world – and Norway – is that Turkey is not a democratic country. They are racist against democratically elected members in other countries. Do you as a democracy want an alliance with someone like Turkey?, he asked.