Latest news with #Mahmut
Local Sweden
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
'Sweden doesn't want me to stay here, but it doesn't want me to leave either'
Mahmut, originally from Turkey, came to Sweden as an asylum seeker back in 2017 due to political unrest in his home country. Now, he is in citizenship limbo and believes Swedish security police have branded him a security threat, without telling him why. Advertisement Mahmut* grew up in Turkey and completed his bachelor degree there before moving to the US for further study, eventually graduating with a PhD. "After two years I went back to Turkey to work," he tells The Local. "Then after another two years, in 2013, the political problems started." Mahmut was formerly a member of the Gülen movement, led by US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen. The Gülen movement was originally allied with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prior to 2013. The alliance broke down after a prosecutor linked to the Gülen movement revealed serious governmental corruption. Erdogan responded by declaring it a terror movement, and blamed it for an attempted 2016 coup. Since then, many of the movement's members ‒ current and former ‒ have become refugees elsewhere. "I actually wasn't even living in Turkey at the time, but the coup and what happened in the aftermath really impacted all Turkish citizens globally," Mahmut explains. In 2016, his father was kidnapped by Turkish authorities while working outside Turkey. Mahmut realised quickly that Turkey had also issued an arrest warrant for him, and that he was no longer safe, even despite the fact he was living in a different country, so he decided to move to Sweden with his family. "We came to Sweden in 2017 and then I applied for asylum right away, because my passport was cancelled so I couldn't live in Sweden and apply for a work permit," he says. He found a job within a month of arrival. "I knew English and I had a PhD, so I've been working since then. I've been paying a lot of taxes," he says. He currently earns more than double Sweden's median salary in a tech role with a major Swedish company. Despite leaving the movement some years ago he cannot return to Turkey as there are still multiple ongoing investigations against him. Mahmut has had regular contact with the Migration Agency since arriving in Sweden in 2017. Photo: Susanne Lindholm/TT In Sweden, the first immigration hurdle the family encountered was a law change which tightened up the rules for permanent residency, meaning that families no longer qualified as a whole if one member of the family met the requirements. "I was working and my wife was learning Swedish, so because of that law we thought that 'OK, maybe I can continue working and my wife can learn Swedish first. And we decided to have a second child. But then the law changed and I got permanent residency but my wife couldn't get it because she wasn't working. So that was the first issue we had," he said. His wife decided to apply for a long-term residency permit under EU rules instead, a status known in Swedish as varaktigt bosatt. Shortly after he received permanent residency in 2021, he applied for citizenship along with his eldest daughter. "She was eight years old and got her Swedish citizenship after a month," he said. "But I didn't get my citizenship." READ ALSO: Swedish Migration Agency and government slammed over 'unreasonably' long citizenship queues Four years later, he's still waiting. "My second child was born in 2020 and she was given residency for three years, and then we applied to extend it in 2023. We have refugee status, and I can't really go to the Turkish embassy here, so my daughter was actually stateless. She didn't have Turkish citizenship, so had no ID at all because she didn't have a Turkish passport or identity card, and her refugee passport expired when her residency expired." Advertisement At the beginning of 2024, he started to become more suspicious about the fact that there was no movement in his case. "It had been almost two years since I applied for citizenship, almost two years since my wife applied for varaktig bosatt, and almost one year since my daughter applied for residence extension. I exchanged a lot of emails with the Migration Agency and they weren't really responding, just saying 'every case is unique'." In the meantime, a lot of Turkish citizens he knew in the same position – including his family members who had also sought asylum in Sweden – were having their applications approved. "My sister applied for citizenship around the same time, in 2021, but she got hers approved within seven months. My other sister and brother got theirs in eight or nine months, which was really weird – especially as I had been working for longer." Advertisement His family were effectively stranded in Sweden during this time, as his daughter did not have any ID or a valid residency permit. After speaking to a lawyer, he was told that he could order a dagboksblad, essentially a log of his family's case files from the Migration Agency. Once those were sent over, he discovered that not only was his application referred to Säpo, Sweden's security police, but so were both of his wife's applications. The head offices of Sweden's Security Police (Säpo) in Solna. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT In addition to that, there were multiple lines of redacted information from his daughter's application. She was four years old at the time. He asked his caseworker for more information on why his application had been sent to Säpo, and received a document saying that they had requested it because they thought he might be involved in terrorist activities or a threat to national security. "That was really shocking," he said. "It was really a nightmare. When I found out about this, I really went into a depression. From the beginning of 2024 until the end of that year I was speaking to two psychiatrists." Advertisement His situation has not only taken a mental toll, but also a physical one. "I've been dealing with lots of problems. I've been going to hospitals, had a colonoscopy, endoscopy, but they cannot diagnose what's wrong. But I have a lot of stomach pain. I can't leave home because when I get on a bus or in a car my blood pressure drops and I've passed out a couple of times. It caused serious hell because again, I don't think I deserve this." At the end of last year, his youngest daughter's residency application was finally approved, and then they applied for Swedish citizenship for her, which was also granted. His wife was also finally granted permanent residency. Mahmut is still waiting for his own citizenship application to go through, despite Säpo writing in a previous application that they had no comments, or in Swedish ej erinran, on his case. He has not been asked to show his passport or ID card, nor been sent a questionnaire of further questions to fill out. READ ALSO: The extra security questions Sweden's Migration Agency wants citizenship applicants to answer "When I spoke to my caseworker, they claimed that they are actually still waiting for approval from another government organisation. They already have approval from Säpo, so I asked them what kind of organisation they are waiting for approval from, and they said that they cannot name it." Advertisement Säpo press secretary Jonathan Svensson confirmed to The Local that Säpo is "one of the authorities which the Migration Agency consults". "Somewhat simplified, the Security Police have the possibility of leaving a comment, for example in cases where someone has applied for a residence permit or citizenship, if we think the person in question could be a security threat," he said. "The Security Police can also be consulted even if the person in question has previously been granted a residence permit." Svensson added that he was not able to give more specific information on how the two agencies collaborate. At this time, Mahmut was discussing his case with journalist Joakim Medin, from Dagens ETC – the same Medin who in 2025 was arrested and detained in Turkey for over a month after he had travelled to Istanbul to report on protests against the jailing of the city's mayor. Medin revealed in an article in July 2024 that the Migration Agency had sent residence permit and citizenship applications from Gülenists to the Foreign Ministry during Sweden's Nato accession process, citing the fact that approvals could affect Sweden's relations with Turkey. Advertisement Mahmut has many contacts with Gülenist refugees in Sweden who have fled Turkey. He has previously worked together with the Migration Agency to help refugees in his situation seek asylum in Sweden, meeting with Migration Agency leadership multiple times to tell them about the situation for members of the Gülen movement. His information has also provided the Migration Agency with background for legal positions made when handling cases involving current or former Gülenists. The Migration Agency confirmed to The Local that it does have to send some applications to the Foreign Ministry, but that it wasn't able to provide statistics on which nationalities or countries were affected. "The Migration Agency does, like other government agencies, have to inform the head of the Foreign Ministry when issues arise that could affect the relationship to another state or an international organisation," Rebecka Paulusson, a press communicator at the agency, told The Local. "The type of issue which could affect our relationship with another state can vary over time depending on external factors. The type of situation (or issue) in question can also vary. Typically, it concerns the decision we expect to make in a certain case, but it could also be another initiative or change in the management of the agency or its working methods." Paulusson added that in the first half of this year (including incomplete figures for June), the agency informed the Foreign Ministry about applications in 36 cases – 25 applications for residency permits and 11 for citizenship. Sweden's foreign ministry is located on Gustav Adolfs torg in Stockholm. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT The Local also contacted the Foreign Ministry for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication. Advertisement Mahmut believes, after all this, that his name is "on a list somewhere", as he was also flagged for a background check when changing career – unlike other non-EU colleagues. "During this extra security interview, after talking about why I was a refugee, the person asked me if anyone threatens me or my family to release secret information. I was really shocked. They asked me 'if someone offers you a lot of money, would you give out secret information', and I realised that she was questioning me and trying to understand if I was a spy." He passed the background check and was offered the job, but is concerned that the issue will follow him in the future. "I think I've been profiled by Säpo and I'm going to face this problem forever. There's no progress in my citizenship application because of this. I can't become a citizen." Mahmut is considering leaving Sweden but is effectively trapped in the country. "I don't have a Turkish passport because it's been cancelled by Turkey. I can't become a Swedish citizen. I have a refugee passport, so I can move to another country, but even if I do that I need to fill in some paperwork and in order to do that paperwork I need to have a valid passport. So Sweden doesn't want me to stay here, but it doesn't want me to leave either." "I feel like I'm trapped. And I'm really tired of this." *Note: Mahmut is not his real name.
News18
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Global EDM Sensation Mahmut Orhan To Light Up Mumbai With His Debut Exclusive Show This May
Last Updated: Turkish DJ and producer Mahmut Orhan is all set to perform in Mumbai next month. The spectacle will be held at Dome SVP Stadium on May 22nd, 2025. Known for his trailblazing electronic music, Mahmut Orhan is all set to make his debut in India. The Electronic Dance Music (EDM) artist is all set to perform a one-night-only spectacle at the Dome SVP Stadium on May 22nd, 2025. This exclusive show promises a sonic experience like no other, as the Turkish DJ and producer delivers his signature fusion of deep house, cinematic layers and Eastern melodies that have captivated festival audiences around the world. Spacebound, a premier live entertainment company dedicated to pioneering innovative approaches in the EDM industry, brings Mahmut Orhan to Indian shores with Mahmut Orhan Live in Mumbai. Tickets for this mind-blowing performance are live exclusively on BookMyShow, India's leading entertainment destination, starting at Rs. 1500. From the breakout success of Feel to the haunting global hit 6 Days, Mahmut has redefined the electronic music landscape, crafting immersive sounds that transcend borders. With his 2024 album Pangea, Orhan took his artistry to a new dimension, blending organic instruments, evocative melodies and cutting-edge production into an unforgettable journey through sound. Karan Singh, CEO, Spacebound, shared, 'We're thrilled to bring Mahmut Orhan to Mumbai for this special showcase. His unique sound and global appeal connect perfectly with the music-loving audience here. Our goal has always been to create high-quality live experiences, and this show is a step forward in that journey. Mumbai continues to be one of the most exciting cities for live music, and we're looking forward to an unforgettable night of energy, sound and celebration." Fans can expect a high-octane night of music and energy that pushes the boundaries of traditional performance. The stage production will be nothing short of cinematic, designed to mirror Mahmut Orhan's storytelling through sound, with atmospheric lighting, state-of-the-art visuals and immersive moments that transform the night into a multisensory spectacle. First Published: April 26, 2025, 10:40 IST
BBC News
17-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
BBC award winning chickpea project promotes British values
"Imagine you are a chickpea," says the speaker. A hall full of children at John Henry Newman primary school in Oxford are eagerly listening. "Would you rather be in a soup, a salad, or a Noah's pudding?"This is not a cookery lesson, but a scheme which teaches children about the values of equality, diversity and inclusion. The initiative, called Life of a Chickpea, is now planning to expand after it won a BBC Make a Difference award. It was devised by Mahmut Gunaydin, who leads the Oxford branch of The Dialogue Society, a charity which promotes social cohesion. He was awarded the BBC Radio Oxford Community Award for his work. Nominations are currently open for the 2025 BBC Make a Difference Awards. Stacked up to the side of the hall are piles of Noah's puddings. The pudding is a mixture of 10 different ingredients - as well as chickpeas, it includes pomegranates, apples, apricots and barley. The Life of a Chickpea programme uses the pudding as a metaphor for society. "The pudding shows we can be different but come together without losing our shape, our taste, our identity," explains Mahmut. Life of a Chickpea also tries to reinforce British Values, which have been a core part of the school curriculum since 2014. Eleven-year-old Jesse is among the pupils listening."It told us that the Noah's pudding expresses all five British values, because although all the ingredients are different, they bring the best out in each other."Siddiqa, 10, recounts the story of where the pudding came from."On Noah's ark, they all got very hungry after surviving the flood, and they just got every food that they had and they put it together to make the Noah's pudding."Mahmut explains that the story is known in a number of religions. "It's in The Quran, Bible and Torah," he says. The session is led by volunteers from The Dialogue Society, but children also get to hear from faith leaders, on this occasion from the Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities."It was great for the children to see leaders from all different types of faiths," teacher Klarisa Dani says."I think children often view them as separate religions and actually they do all come together and share a similar belief."Mahmut won the BBC Make a Difference Award in September. "After that recognition, our Life of a Chickpea project had more impact in the region," he says."We've had more schools wanting to be involved in the project in Oxford, and we are planning to expand throughout Oxfordshire."Session over, and Jesse, Siddiqa and their classmates are taking home with them valuable lessons - and the best bit, their Noah's puddings. The Make a Difference Awards recognise people, across eight different categories, who are making a difference where they BBC Local Radio station will host awards in is a chance to say thank you to people who make life better for can be made via the BBC Make a Difference website where you can also see full terms and the privacy close on the 31st March 2025 at 17:00. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Independent
13-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
China's new AI app DeepSeek is trying to erase our genocide from history, Uyghurs war
DeepSeek has had a meteoric rise in the growing world of AI, becoming a strong competitor to US rival ChatGPT. But for Xinjiang 's Uyghurs, who are facing an alleged genocide, the rollout of China's newest chatbot was just another way to remove their 12 million people from history. 'The Chinese government is trying to erase the Uyghur people by employing AI to mislead the public,' Rahima Mahmut, who fled China in 2000, told The Independent. Ms Mahmut, who has not heard from her family for eight years, and learnt her brother was locked up in a mass-internment camp for two of those, had reason for concern. The 'world-leading AI assistant', as it describes itself, was designed to give 'helpful and harmless responses' and has been downloaded over three million times worldwide. But when asked 'are the Uyghurs facing a genocide', the chatbot asserted the claim was a 'severe slander of China's domestic affairs' and 'completely unfounded'. 'We firmly oppose any country, organisation, or individual using so-called human rights issues to interfere in China's internal affairs,' it said. For Ms Mahmut, 'so-called human rights issues' meant fleeing her hometown of Ghulia after seeing her neighbours and friends locked up en masse in 1997. She was escaping Beijing 's 'strike hard' campaign which saw thousands of arrests, as well as executions, in response to a growing separatist movement across Xinjiang. Since then, the US, UK, Canada and Netherlands have accused China of committing genocide in the region, where millions of Uyghurs, mostly Muslim, live. The declarations followed several reports that found evidence of China sterilising women, interning people in camps, and separating children from their families. In 2018, a UN human rights committee claimed China was holding up to a million people in 'counterextremism centres' in the northwestern province. Dr Adrian Zenz, a leading expert in Beijing's Xinjiang policies, said China was doing this to 'eradicate' the Uyghurs as an ethnic group and extinguish their dream of independence. 'They are culturally and religiously very different to the rest of China, they are a Turkic people, not Chinese, which is a problem for Beijing,' Dr Zenz told The Independent. In the 1990s, Uyghurs saw their Turkic neighbours like Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan gain independence from Moscow after the fall of the Soviet Union. This inspired a wave of nationalism across Xinjiang, and Uyghurs began talking about greater autonomy from Beijing, Dr Zenz said. 'This spooked the Chinese authorities, so they started to crack down on Uyghur society,' he said. The crackdown initially included shutting down mosques, arresting religious leaders and flooding Xinjiang with migrant Han-Chinese workers. These policies led to a vicious cycle of violence and today's policies which have seen China accused of genocide, Dr Zenz explained. China has claimed the campaign, and ongoing crackdown, was needed to prevent terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. DeepSeek said China was committed to the 'social harmony' and 'sustained development' of Xinjiang. Zumretary Arkin, 31, has not heard from her family since 2017, and like many Uyghurs, is aware her relatives are frequently detained and interrogated. So to see DeepSeek rewrite her homeland's history was 'deeply worrying' to her and, like Ms Mahmut, she said it represented a new way for China to erase Uyghur history. 'This sort of technology is replacing Google. It is where people go for research and information. This is deeply worrying,' Ms Arkin told The Independent. 'We have to remember DeepSeek is controlled by the Chinese government, and they are using it as another way to erase the Uyghur people,' she said. Dr William Matthews, who researches China's technological rise, said Beijing's censorship of DeepSeek should be 'extremely concerning' to us all. 'This app adds to China's ability to spread censorship around the world. It should be concerning to us all as it becomes a popular platform,' he told The Independent. 'It is directly linked to the interests of the Chinese state. There is an inherent danger in something like this. 'These apps are extremely powerful and influential and will become the way we find out information.' Ms Mahmut, who now spends her time in London making Uyghur music while reflecting on the slow strangulation of her culture, said: 'The assertion that the claim of Uyghur genocide is 'completely unfounded' is not only false. It is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities who have been subjected to horrific atrocities.'
The Independent
12-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
China's new AI app DeepSeek is trying to erase our genocide from history, Uyghurs warn
DeepSeek has had a meteoric rise in the growing world of AI, becoming a strong competitor to US rival ChatGPT. But for Xinjiang 's Uyghurs, who are facing an alleged genocide, the rollout of China's newest chatbot was just another way to remove their 12 million people from history. 'The Chinese government is trying to erase the Uyghur people by employing AI to mislead the public,' Rahima Mahmut, who fled China in 2000, told The Independent. Ms Mahmut, who has not heard from her family for eight years, and learnt her brother was locked up in a mass-internment camp for two of those, had reason for concern. The 'world-leading AI assistant', as it described itself, was designed to give 'helpful and harmless responses' and has been downloaded over three million times worldwide. But when asked 'are the Uyghur's facing a genocide', the chatbot asserted the claim was a 'severe slander of China's domestic affairs' and 'completely unfounded'. 'We firmly oppose any country, organisation, or individual using so-called human rights issues to interfere in China's internal affairs,' it said. For Ms Mahmut, 'so-called human rights issues' meant fleeing her hometown of Ghulia after seeing her neighbours and friends locked up en-masse in 1997. She was escaping Beijing 's 'strike hard' campaign which saw thousands of arrests, as well as executions, in response to a growing separatist movement across Xinjiang. Since then, the US, UK, Canada and Netherlands have accused China of committing genocide in the region, where millions of Uyghurs, mostly Muslim, live. The declarations followed several reports that found evidence of China sterilising women, interning people in camps, and separating children from their families. In 2018, a UN human rights committee claimed China was holding up to a million people in 'counter-extremism centres' in the northwestern province. Dr Adrian Zenz, a leading expert in Beijing's Xinjiang policies, said China was doing this to 'eradicate' the Uyghurs as an ethnic group and extinguish their dream of independence. 'They are culturally and religiously very different to the rest of China, they are a Turkic people, not Chinese, which is a problem for Beijing', Dr Zenz told The Independent. In the 1990s, Uyghurs saw their Turkic neighbours like Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan gain independence from Moscow after the fall of the Soviet Union. This inspired a wave of nationalism across Xinjiang, and Uyghurs began talking about greater autonomy from Beijing, Dr Zenz said. 'This spooked the Chinese authorities, so they started to crack down on Uyghur society,' he said. The crackdown initially included shutting down mosques, arresting religious leaders and flooding Xinjiang with migrant Han-Chinese workers. These policies led to a vicious cycle of violence and today's policies which have seen China accused of genocide, Dr Zenz explained. China has claimed the campaign – and ongoing crackdown, was needed to prevent terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. Indeed, DeepSeek said China was committed to the 'social harmony' and 'sustained development' of Xinjiang. Zumretary Arkin, 31, has not heard from her family since 2017, and like many Uyghurs, is aware her relatives are frequently detained and interrogated. So to see DeepSeek re-write her homeland's history was 'deeply worrying' and, like Ms Mahmut, represented a new way for China to erase Uyghur history. 'This sort of technology is replacing Google. It is where people go for research and information. This is deeply worrying,' Ms Arkin told The Independent. 'We have to remember DeepSeek is controlled by the Chinese government, and they are using it as another way to erase the Uyghur people,' she said. Dr William Matthews, who researches China's technological rise, said Beijing's censorship of DeepSeek should be 'extremely concerning' to us all. 'This app adds to China's ability to spread censorship around the world. It should be concerning to us all as it becomes a popular platform,' he told The Independent. 'It is directly linked to the interests of the Chinese state. There is an inherent danger in something like this. 'These apps are extremely powerful and influential and will become the way we find out information.' Ms Mahmut, who now spends her time in London making Uyghur music while reflecting on the slow strangulation of her culture, said: 'The assertion that the claim of Uyghur genocide is 'completely unfounded' is not only false. 'It is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities who have been subjected to horrific atrocities.'
