Migrants: far-right leader in Sweden expelled from Turkey

Text by: Frédéric Faux

Refugees who crowd at the Turkish border to enter the European Union are starting to react to policies in different European countries. The far right leader in Sweden, Jimmie Åkesson, was expelled on Friday March 6 from Turkey when he tried to convince these refugees not to go to Sweden.

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From our correspondent in Stockholm,

For Jimmie Åkesson, currently in the lead in opinion polls, it was a good opportunity to be talked about.

The Swedish far-right leader had been in Turkey on the Greek border for several days to convince the refugees not to go to his country. His main weapon: leaflets signed in the name of the Swedish people he distributed around him and explaining that Sweden is " full ", that it cannot provide money, accommodation or welcome other refugees.

► Read also: Turkey: in Edirne, refugees await the opening of the border to Greece

An activism that caught the attention of the Turkish authorities. They arrested Åkesson and deported him from Istanbul airport.

His party, the Democrats of Sweden, had already demanded the closure of Europe's borders during the 2015 migration crisis . This had not prevented Sweden from being the country which had received the most refugees compared to its population.

According to the Democrats in Sweden, criticized by all the other parties in the country, Turkey is a rogue state which should have no influence on European migration policy.

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• Sweden
• Turkey
• International Migration
• Refugees

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