French Journalist Bertrand Deported

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French journalist Oliver Bertrand who was taken into custody in Antep on November 11 in the evening hours, has been deported.

Bertrand, Reporter of the news website Les Jours, was taken into custody on Friday, December 11 together with his photo-reporter in Turkey.

Le journaliste Olivier Bertrand arrêté en Turquiehttps://t.co/3fY6frJ93f

— Les Jours (@Lesjoursfr) November 12, 2016

Informing about the incident on Friday evening, Les Jours' Editor-in-Chief Isabelle Roberts had noted that Bertrand had been taken into custody with no reason declared.

RSF'den E.Önderoğlu: #Gaziantep'de gerekçe gösterilmeden gözaltına alınan @Lesjoursfr sitesi muhabiri OlivierBertrand bırakılmalı @RSF_EECA

— RSF Türkçe (@RSF_tr) November 11, 2016

French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault had earlier criticized the journalist being taken into custody and demanded his immediate release. Reporters without Borders (RSF) Secretary General Christophe Deloire on Twitter had said "Our French colleague Olivier Bertrand being unlawfully taken into custody in Gaziantep is obviously an oppression of the freedom of press in Turkey".

Les Jours reported that while the journalist from Turkey had been released after a short while, Bertrand had been released and deported. Bertrand has arrived in Paris on Sunday (November 13) in the evening hours.

82 jours de détention en #Turquie pour l'écrivain Asli Erdoğan, l'une des 34000 personnes emprisonnées depuis juillet. 34000 ! https://t.co/clzlCERsfz

— Olivier Bertrand (@Ol_Bertrand) November 8, 2016

Bertrand had earlier shared a message on Twitter to support the arrested author Aslı Erdoğan who stood trial. In his message, he said, "It has been 82 days since author Aslı Erdoğan has been taken into custody. Since July, 34,000 people have been put in prison. 34,000!

Deported journalists

On July 19, 2016, Russian journalist Valentin Trushinin who had come to Turkey to cover the coup attempt was taken into custody in Atatürk Airport and then deported.

On April 28, 2016, Finn writer Taiana Neimela who was living in Van province, was deported

On April 25, 2016, freelance journalist David Lepeska making reports for international media outlets such as The Guardian, Al Jazeera and Foreign Affairs was denied entrance to Turkey in Atatürk Airport and sent back to Chicago.

On April 23, 2016, Greek photojournalist Giorgos Moutafis working for Bild, Reuters, Time, Al Jazeera, Newsweek, and CNN was denied entry to Turkey.

On April 20, 2016, Sputnik General Director of Turkey, Tural Kerimov was denied entrance to Turkey. Kerimov's press card and residence permit were also seized.

On April 19, 2016, ARD's Cairo bureau executive Volker Schwenck was handed a document titled "Entry ban" and was deported.

On September 10, 2015, journalist Frederike Geerdink who had been living and working in Diyarbakır for years, had been deported.

On June 20, 2015, Giuseppe Acconcia from the Italian İl Manifesto daily and Samuel Forey from the French Le Figaro daily were taken into custody in Urfa and were deported after two days.

On March 28, 2015, Andy Spyra, photo-reporter of the German Der Spiegel weekly magazine was deported from the Atatürk Airport.

In April 2015, coming to Turkey together with his wife, Syrian Barzan İso, declared a "persona non grata" (unwanted person) by the Ministry of Interior was denied entry in İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport. (EA/DG)

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