Reuters, 25/04 17:36 CET
By Ayla Jean Yackley
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – An
American reporter living and working in Turkey was barred from
re-entering the country and forced to fly home on Monday in the latest
incident in which a foreign journalist has been denied entry or
accreditation.
Freelance correspondent David Lepeska, who wrote for the
Guardian, Al Jazeera, Foreign Affairs and others, told Reuters that
immigration officers at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport informed him an
“entry ban” had been placed on his visa.
It was not immediately clear why Lepeska, 42, had been
denied entry but he is the latest journalist to be stopped at the
border, heightening international concern about Turkey’s record on press
freedom.
A senior Turkish government official told Reuters that
Lepeska did not have a press card or a press visa and was not employed
by a media company.
“Individuals who go through the proper legal channels do
not face similar problems,” the official said, adding that the case was
not a matter of press freedom but of legal procedure.
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Source: Euronews
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