Hayko Bağdat´s Passport Seizure in Parliament

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Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul parliament member Garo Paylan asked Minister of the Interior Efkan Ala about Hayko Bağdat´s baseless passport seizure.

In his petition, Paylan recalled that on August 6, as Bağdat was returning to the İstanbul Atatürk Airport from abroad, he was taken to the police headquarters where his passport was seized.

As highlighted in the petition, Bağdat did not get any facts clarified or receive any explanation, and when asked to learn the reason behind these actions the police officers told him, “You'll learn in the coming days, already,” it is reported.

In this context, Paylan posed the following questions:

* What is the reason for taking journalists´ passports and which legal regulation supports it?

* Who are the people whose passports have been and will be seized followıng the July 15 coup attempt?

* Have there been any examinations into the journalists whose passports have been seized?

Bağdat, whose passport was seized, described what he experienced at the airport to Diken news site. His statement is as follows:

“Two police surrounded me and took my passport. The police didn't know who I was and they wanted to know my profession. I said I was a journalist. Then they wondered which television channel I was on. I said ‘IMC TV.’ When they asked me if that was a Cemaat channel I responded ‘No. It’s a Kurdish channel. Which one is more dangerous?’ Laughing, they said ‘Nowadays both of them are dangerous.’ Since they decided not to take me into custody, after they took my passport they let me go.”

Who is Hayko Bağdat?

Hayko Bağdat was born in 1976 in İstanbul. He attended primary school at Esayan, and he completed middle and high school at Mihitaryan Armenian schools. He continued his studies with the İstanbul Literature Faculty History degree.

In 2002 Bağdat hosted the program, “Sözde Kalanlar” on Yaşam Radio, which brought minority issues into the news agenda. He was also a columnist at Marmara Gazetesi and Taraf.

In 2012, Bağdat started participating in the “Azı Karar Çoğu Zarar” program with Roni Margulies, and in 2014 his first book, Salyangöz, was published.

After the trustee appointment of Bugün TV his program was brought to an end.

He has been a writer for Diken since 2016. (EA/KT)