Turkish-Dutch Journalist Detained over Erdogan Tweet
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A Turkish-Dutch journalist was detained for questioning over a tweet she posted about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, her newspaper said Sunday.
Metro newspaper said Turkish-Dutch columnist Ebru Umar was detained Saturday, the Associated Press reported.
The journalist tweeted in Dutch late Saturday that police were at her door and that she was being taken to a police station in the resort of Kusadasi.
In The Hague, Foreign Ministry spokesman Herman van Gelderen confirmed that she had been detained, but had few details.
"We are aware of it. We are in contact and we're following the case very closely," he told the AP.
Turkish authorities have launched close to 2,000 lawsuits against people accused of insulting Erdogan since he came to office in 2014, including for social media postings.
Umar was detained as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top EU officials were in Turkey to bolster a deal to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. The EU leaders have been accused of not speaking out against Turkey's crackdown on freedom of expression because of the country's role in stopping the refugee influx. Merkel has come under criticism for her decision earlier this month to grant Turkey's request to let German prosecutors and courts decide whether a German comedian insulted Erdogan.
Umar wrote a column last week for Metro criticizing an appeal sent by Turkey's consulate in Rotterdam urging Turks in the Netherlands to report cases of people insulting Turkey or its leader. She compared the letter to "NSB practices," a reference to the Dutch branch of the Nazi party before and during World War II.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte last week responded to reports of the appeal by saying "it is not a good thing and our ambassador will ask for clarification from the Turkish authorities."
Earlier this week, a German reporter was detained at an Istanbul airport and sent back to Cairo where he is based. A day later, authorities denied entry into Turkey for Russian news agency Sputnik's Istanbul-based general manager.
