German magazine correspondent denied credentials for ‘insulting president’
Turkish authorities denied Raphael Geiger, the Turkey, Greece, and Middle East correspondent for the German magazine Stern, an extension of his press credentials, saying he had insulted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish service of Deutsche Welle reported on April 26. Geiger, who is currently in Athens, said he did not know which of his articles had caused offense, media reports said.
[April 28, 2017]
News editor released
Authorities in Istanbul today released Ali Ergin Demirhan, news editor for the leftist news website sendika.org, his employer reported. Police detained Demirhan in an early-morning raid of the beleaguered website’s office on April 20, but released him today even before he had been questioned by a prosecutor, according to sendika.org.
[April 25, 2017]
Italian filmmaker deported
Turkish authorities deported Italian documentary filmmaker Gabriele Del Grande, the English-language Hürriyet Daily News reported today. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano would meet the filmmaker at the airport in Italy, the newspaper reported, citing AFP. Police detained Del Grande in the southeastern province of Hatay on April 11.
Journalist jailed pending trial for covering referendum protest
A court in the coastal city of Izmir in the early hours of April 22 ordered documentary filmmaker Kazım Kızıl jailed pending trial on charges of “insulting the president,” illegal protest, and “provoking the people to animosity and hatred,” the daily newspaper Evrensel reported. Police arrested Kızıl alongside 19 other people from a protest against alleged fraud in the April 16 referendum on constitutional amendments giving the president more power. In remarks quoted by Evrensel, Kızıl’s lawyer, Diçer Çalım, said his client was documenting the protest and called the arrest “arbitrary.”
Jailed newspaper accountant denied medicine
Prison authorities have not allowed Emre İper, accountant for the beleaguered daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, access to his diabetes medicine, the newspaper’s English service reported today. A court in Istanbul on April 19 ordered İper jailed pending trial, CPJ reported at the time.
Reporter released on probation
A court in Mersin ordered journalist Berivan Altan released on probation, the feminist, pro-Kurdish news website Gazete Sujin reported on April 21. She had been detained for eight days.
[April 24, 2017]