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

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

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 ( sv, Miljöpartiet de gröna, lit=Environmental Party the Greens, commonly referred to in Swedish as Miljöpartiet or MP) is a political party in Sweden based on green politics. . Sparked by the anti-nuclear power movement follo ...

. Kaplan resigned from the Cabinet after controversy regarding ties to

Islamic extremism Islamic extremism, Islamist extremism, or radical Islam, is used in reference to extremist beliefs and behaviors which are associated with the Islamic religion. These are controversial terms with varying definitions, ranging from academic unde ...

. He came under increasing pressure after local media published photos of him at a dinner with Turkish

ultranationalists Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its s ...

, including the Swedish head of the extremist

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

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: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

family in

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

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

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

(2006–2014) and before that spokesperson for the

Muslim Council of Sweden The Muslim Council of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges muslimska råd, SMR) is an umbrella organisation of Islamic organisations in Sweden. It was founded in 1990 by representatives of the United Islamic Parishes in Sweden ( sv, Förenade islamiska församl ...

(2005–2006) and Young Muslims of Sweden (2000–2002). He was also a founding member of the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, 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 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 city of Visby is arguably th ...

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

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

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

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

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 __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

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 in Batman, Turkey, but migrated to ...

of the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

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 has ...

, and on several occasions with people from the Islamist organization

Millî Görüş Millî Görüş (, "National Outlook" or "National Vision") is a religious-political movement and a series of Islamist parties inspired by Necmettin Erbakan. It argues that Turkey can develop with its own human and economic power by protecting ...

. On 17 April, ''

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

'' published a video on which Kaplan compares

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's treatment of Palestinians to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

'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 serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

, 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’, � ...

. 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 People from Gaziantep Turkish emigrants to Sweden Swedish Muslims Swedish people of Turkish descent Members of the Riksdag from the Green Party Swedish Ministers for Housing Swedish Islamists Islamism in Sweden