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[Ullus]

Sweden's minister for housing and IT, Mehmet Kaplan, has announced he is stepping down following a week of controversies

Stefan Löfven told a press conference in Stockholm on Monday that his minister for housing, urban development and information technology would be leaving his position on the government.

"I have received Mehmet Kaplan's resignation request and I have approved it," said the Prime Minister.

The press conference comes on the back of a week of controversies, which has seen Kaplan accused of being too closely affiliated with members of radical organizations.

The Svenska Dagbladet newspaper reported on Sunday that Kaplan told a seminar in 2009 that "Israelis today treat Palestinians in a very similar way to how Jews were treated in Germany in the 1930s".

News of the comments was immediately met with a wave of heavy criticism, by among others Israel's ambassador to Stockholm and Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.

Last week a photograph emerged of Kaplan having dinner with extremist members of far-right Turkish organization The Grey Wolves and the former deputy head of the Turkish Association in Sweden, Barbaros Leylani, who was in turn forced to step down this month after giving a speech urging Turks to kill what he branded "the Armenian dogs".

Kaplan denied having extremist links, insisting he was a guest at the event and held no responsibility

Earlier that year Kaplan compared Swedish jihadists in Syria to Swedish freedom fighters in Finland during World War Two. He later apologized and said his comments had been misinterpreted.

More in the link: http://www.thelocal.se/20160418/swedens-housing-minister-quits-after-row

 

[robertsan21]

Finally !

This dude should have been gone a long time ago.

the Isis comparasing scandal should have had him fired.

 

[Funky Papa]

Dining with Grey Wolves while making light of ISIS.

That's one conflicted individual.

 

[cwmartin]

He resigned for saying Palestinians are treated badly by Israel? Or does the article just not contain any more detail?

EDIT: Didn't see the Grey Wolves detail

 

[Condom]

Grey Wolves? So he's simply a fascist (sympathyzer). What the hell is wrong with that guy, how could he think that was acceptable for anyone.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Didn't Ergodan just say the same thing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXJtrCcuv6o

 

[cameron]

The Grey Wolves.

Not a good look. Kaplan's quote from 2009 is out of place compared to his other incidents.

 

[forms]

The guy has made some forgiving comments regarding jihadists previously, and also has some bonds with organizations that "wants to put a koran in the hand of every western youth" as well as some that claim the western influences are destroying the muslims.

I am amazed that he was ever in the government.

 

[54-46!]

I am amazed that he was ever in the government.

Doesn't surprise me at all.

 

[Forsete]

Another politician of the Green Party left after refusing to shake the hand of a female reporter. It went against his beliefs.

http://www.thelocal.se/20160420/swedish-politician-quits-after-refusing-to-shake-womens-hands

Yasri Khan is the second Green Party politician to resign in acrimony this week.

During an interview with a female reporter from the TV4 broadcaster on Tuesday, Khan placed his hand over his heart instead of shaking her hand in greeting.

"People can greet each other in different ways. The most important thing is to show respect by seeing each other, to meet each other… to respect each other," Khan said during an interview with state broadcaster Swedish Radio.

Khan, also the general secretary of the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, has faced strong criticism from within his party since the incident.

One of the the leaders of the Green Party Gustav Fridolin says he didnt know how degrading this felt for women.

Dr. Lars Nicander the Director for The Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish Defence University says the infiltration of the Green Party by members or people having close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood draws parallells to how the Soviets tried to infiltrate political parties during the cold war.

Swedish TV Interview: http://www.tv4play.se/program/nyheterna?video_id=3350659

This party will hopefully be below the 4% threshold next election.

 

[Sioen]

Ah yes Sweden, the beacon of multiculturalism.

 

[Staf]

Same retarded party... Next election can't come fast enough.

 

[Dennis]

What has been the response in Sweden to these two examples of exceptional madness?

 

[Ullus]

And a member of the youth party supposedly did the Rabia sign on TV.

 

[Jokab]

What has been the response in Sweden to these two examples of exceptional madness?

Absolute catastrophe for the Green party. The confidence in the party's joint party leaders have almost halved. Major polling institute says that they've hardly ever seen this kind of change in opinion. Former top man of the party smashed the two of them earlier today, saying they've ruined what party members built in the 90s and 00s.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Whats the rabia sign?

 

[Staf]

What has been the response in Sweden to these two examples of exceptional madness?

As per usual. The right overreact and call this the worst thing ever and the left defending and feigning ignorance.

 

[Dennis]

Absolute catastrophe for the Green party. The confidence in the party's joint party leaders have almost halved. Major polling institute says that they've hardly ever seen this kind of change in opinion.

Good, good, I am pleased.

Shame to see a green party lose its mind though.

 

[zeroOman]

Whats the rabia sign?

<---- this one

 

[Henkka]

Sigh, Sweden. I kinda used to look up to you guys. In my mind Sweden was like Finland, except they did everything slightly better. Now, not so much. Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating the Green party? Green party member refusing to shake hands with a woman? What a shitshow. You made your bed, and now you're sleeping in it.

 

[Jokab]

Sigh, Sweden. I kinda used to look up to you guys. In my mind Sweden was like Finland, except they did everything slightly better. Now, not so much. Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating the Green party? Green party member refusing to shake hands with a woman? What a shitshow. You made your bed, and now you're sleeping in it.

Lol what is this? You make it sound like the country is crumbling. It really isn't.

 

[Forsete]

What has been the response in Sweden to these two examples of exceptional madness?

Surprisingly the media have been on their ass a lot, even the socialist democratic Aftonbladet has dug up some old dirt that was published on the interwebs many months ago but kept out of the general media (for example, a MP politician using a islamist greeting on state television, he was in the crowd behind the cameras).
You should know that the great percentage of journalists in Sweden sympathize with the green party, so it is somewhat surprising that they didn't try to shovel it under the rug.

A opinion poll shows record low numbers for the two leaders of the party, Gustav Fridolin and Åsa Romson.

 

[Henkka]

Lol what is this? You make it sound like the country is crumbling. It really isn't.

"Not crumbling" isn't that high of a bar to meet.

 

[Kamaji]

Basically the thing about the Green Party is that they probably represent a academic middle class electorate, with a policy that is left on social issues (immigration, lgbtq etc) while centrist on economical issues.

When the scandal about dining with the Grey Wolves leader broke he basically bullshited the party leaders that he didn't have a clue who the Grey Wolves leader was. A answer that was obviously bullshit given that he's been active in the turkish diaspora community for his entire life and it isn't a very big circle.

Yet nobody from the party questioned him as basically the number of party members of m.e. background could probably be counted on the fingers of 2 hands and basically it's a party of naive white middle class people from academical backgrounds.

Basically Kaplan has been called out before on his turkish nationalism/sympathy for islamism, oftentimes by Swedish-kurdish (ex Nalin Pekgul) and Swedish-Assyrian (ex Robert Hannah) politicians, but since there has been no internal pressure from the party he has basically just made a rant about everybody being islamophobe and waited for the news to fade.

 

[Funky Papa]

<---- this one

I'd rather link the article about the actual sign.

Critics of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Morsi government allege that the sign implies indirect support for terrorism, due to the sign's use being mostly limited to persons supportive of the Brotherhood, which has been designated a terrorist organization by numerous countries, including Egypt. On the other hand, supporters of the Brotherhood, whether inside or outside Egypt, believe the gesture represents freedom and persistence. They also deny any association with terrorism.[4][5]

 

[obin_gam]

"Not crumbling" isn't that high of a bar to meet.

It's not in trouble either. It's just that we are so boringly goody too-shoes that every little bit of controversy gets blown up to epic proportions so we get to have SOMETHING happen at all.

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

So, after the next election in Sweden do the main opposition parties have plans to permanently reverse Sweden's very generous policy on asylum? What's the political climate right now in Sweden after the borders were effectively closed?

 

[fantomena]

So, after the next election in Sweden do the main opposition parties have plans to permanently reverse Sweden's very generous policy on asylum? What's the political climate right now in Sweden after the borders were effectively closed?

I think that Sweden need some of Sverigedemokraternas immigration policy, but not all of it, however their abortion politics and free trade is disugusting.

 

[Mr Swine]

So, after the next election in Sweden do the main opposition parties have plans to permanently reverse Sweden's very generous policy on asylum? What's the political climate right now in Sweden after the borders were effectively closed?

I think I read somewhere that some party/parties want to open the boarders again to take in more asylum seekers. I think it was center partiet

 

[Kamaji]

So, after the next election in Sweden do the main opposition parties have plans to permanently reverse Sweden's very generous policy on asylum? What's the political climate right now in Sweden after the borders were effectively closed?

First of all the borders are not closed. Sweden took in as many asylum seekers Q1 2016 as the UK/France does an average quarter even though we are a much smaller country.

In regards to the question: The main opposition party Moderaterna (Tories) have pushed for harder restrictions. They pushed on basically stopping all asylum seekers at the border and sending them back to Denmark and Germany. Now they are devoting most of their time ranting about migrant welfare queens.

The other large opposition party Sverigedemokraterna (Swedish version Front National/Vlams Belang/Danske Folkparti/etc) want to basically shut the borders completely and have talked about revoking permanent residency statuses as well.

Personally I think the previous policies aren't coming back no matter government rules after 2018. However most parties bar Sverigedemokraterna aren't really internally united in the asylum question so it's kinda hard to make a long-term analysis right now.