Swedish far-right leader Jimmie Akesson was deported from Turkey Friday after handing out flyers to migrants at the Turkish border province Edirne with the message “Sweden is full”.
Provincial authorities took legal action against Akesson for distributing leaflets without permission. Upon completion of the legal proceedings, the police brought him to Istanbul Airport for his deportation. During the procures, he was seen recording police and journalists with his mobile phone.
Senior Swedish politicians condemned Akesson for his actions, claiming he only went there to “pose for cameras”.
Swedish lawyer Behrand Eslami filed a criminal complaint against Akesson for incitement of hate. As Akesson signed the flyers in the name of "the people of Sweden, Swedish Democrats,” he could also face the charge of spreading false information. Akesson denied such a crime and was in the midst of considering a response, a local newspaper has reported.
Thousands of migrants have amassed at the Greek border since Turkey announced last week that they are free to cross into the European Union.
The 2016 EU-Turkey deal helped to ease the crisis on Greek islands near Turkey, whose facilities were overwhelmed by a refugee influx in 2015. The number of refugees and migrants coming from Turkey significantly reduced as a result.
Yet, in the face of the silence of EU countries toward the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Syria’s northwest and which caused nearly 1 million people to flee to the Turkish border, Ankara has declared it cannot handle another major refugee wave as it already hosts the largest number of refugees in the world and opened its borders to Europe to migrants leaving from Turkey.
