ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday urged Turkish authorities to release detained foreign reporters, warning that recent arrests reflect a deteriorating press freedom climate in the country.
“Turkey was a haven for foreign journalists covering the region just a decade ago,” said CPJ’s Turkey representative, Ozgur Ogret, describing the arrest of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin as “a chilling reminder that the country has gravely changed.”
The press freedom watchdog said Medin “was immediately taken into police custody” after arriving in Istanbul and urged Turkish authorities to release him “without delay in order to avoid further tarnishing the country’s reputation in international media circles.”
The CPJ also noted that it had sent an email to the chief prosecutors in Ankara regarding Medin’s case, as well as that of BBC journalist Mark Lowen, “but did not receive any reply.”
Lowen was detained in Istanbul on Wednesday while reporting on demonstrations that erupted in several Turkish cities since late March. He was held for 17 hours before being deported on the grounds that he posed "a threat to public order," according to the BBC.
The protests were triggered by the March 19 arrest of prominent opposition figure and Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges, which he and his supporters have denied.
Imamoglu is widely seen as the key rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the only politician capable of challenging Erdogan in the upcoming elections.
By Thursday, more than 1,900 people had been detained, according to Ankara’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who warned there would be “no concessions” for “those who attempt to terrorize the streets, our national and spiritual values, and our policemen.”
Several Western countries have condemned the sacking of Imamoglu and the arrest of protestors, including the United States. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Washington last week that the US has “concerns regarding recent arrests and protests” in Turkey.
