18 April 2016•Update: 22 April 2016
STOCKHOLM
Embattled by criticism of remarks he made over a half-decade ago, Sweden’s Housing Minister Mehmet Kaplan decided to resign on Monday.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters in Stockholm that he had accepted Kaplan’s resignation, adding, "I have gotten to know Mehmet Kaplan as a man with a humanitarian cause and as a man with democratic values."
Born in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, Kaplan was criticized after comments emerged of him lashing out at Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.
The comments were made in 2009 on a local TV program before he became the minister of housing and urban development in 2014, representing the Green Party in Sweden’s center-left coalition.
Kaplan said he had done nothing wrong but was forced to resign because the criticism was interfering with his ability to carry out his duties.
"[My resignation] is not a confirmation of the reports against me, which I see as false. I know who I am and what I have done and I stand by it," Kaplan told reporters in Stockholm on Monday.
A former spokesperson of Sweden’s Muslim Council, Kaplan said: "I have actively fought racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism in every way possible. I reject all forms of extremism, whether nationalistic, religious, or in any other form."
Kaplan said working for sustainable cities and a better environment as housing minister is "more important than him".
