Turkey deports Dutch journalist after being released

HAKKARİ

A Dutch journalist who was detained in Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari’s Yüksekova district on Sept. 5 on grounds of “helping an armed terrorist organization,” has been deported, Reuters reported on Sept.9.

Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink and five other people were released Sept. 8, while 26 others were released pending trial on Sept. 9, after they were sent to court with a demand to be arrested on grounds of “helping an armed terrorist organization.” 

Geerdink, a journalist based in southeastern Diyarbakır province, was taken to the foreigners’ department after being released, where procedures to deport Geerdink took place. 

Geerdink was released late Sept. 8, after being detained on Sept. 5 by police in Yüksekova for the second time in Turkey, together with 31 more people. They were detained while camping in the Gürkavak area, which was inside a “special security region,” on grounds of “helping an armed terrorist organization,” the Hakkari governorate’s statement about the issue stated. 

Geerdink was detained at around 2 a.m., as she was following the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) program.

“I am in custody in Yüksekova,” Geerdink had tweeted, adding she was with members of the human shield group who were also detained.

This is Geerdink’s second detainment in Turkey. Her first detainment came in Diyarbakır in January, at a time that coincided with the visit of Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, who had harshly criticized the journalist’s detainment at the time.

A lawsuit had been opened against Geerdink on charges of producing “terrorist propaganda” on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), however she was acquitted of those charges in April.

Geerdink has been working in Turkey since 2006 and has been in Diyarbakır for three years.