Sputnik Journalists 'Threatened' After Brief Detention over 'Stolen Province' Article

"We tell the untold" (Photo: Sputnik)

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Four journalists from Russia's state-run Sputnik news agency were released from detention yesterday (March 1) following a phone talk between the foreign ministers of Turkey and Russia.

Three reporters from the agency's Ankara office were detained over a news article titled, "The 'Stolen Province': Why Turkey Was Given A Corner Of Syria By France 80 Years Ago."

The article is about Turkey's southern province of Hatay, which was disputed between Ankara and Damascus in the 1930s. Although Hatay joined Turkey in 1939 following a referendum, Syria still considers the province part of its own territory.

Sputnik Türkiye's editor-in-chief, Mahir Boztepe was also detained during a police raid on the agency's İstanbul office. 

The journalists were charged with "degrading the Turkish nation and the state" as per Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 301 and "disrupting the unity and integrity of the state" as per Article 302.

After the detentions, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had a phone talk with his counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, urging him to "swiftly resolve the issue" and ensure the security of the journalists, according to Russia's state-run TASS agency.

Four journalists were released later in the day and prosecutors decided not to prosecute them.

The detentions came amid military conflict between Turkey and Syria in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.

Threats and insults

Following their release, a group of 15-20 people chanted slogans outside the homes of three reporters in Ankara, Sputnik Türkiye reported.

Chanting, "Martyrs don't die, the homeland cannot be divided," the group insulted and threatened the journalists, according to the report.

In a statement on Twitter, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik and RT, questioned how those people found the home addresses of the reporters who were "not the most publicly known employees of them."

The group dispersed after a while and the journalists filed a complaint against them at the Security Directorate. The police have begun examining camera footage to identify the people.

Several journalists were also detained on the weekend amid military escalation between Ankara and Damascus following an airstrike that killed 36 soldiers of Turkey on February 27.

Naci Kaya and İdris Sayılğan from Mezopotamya Agency were detained while filming refugees trying to cross into Greece from the northwestern Edirne province for "shooting a video in a prohibited area."

Alptekin Dursunoğlu, the editor-in-chief of the Yakın Doğu Haber news website, was also detained because of his tweets on the conflict.

Dozens of social media accounts were investigated over messages related to the issue.

(RT/VK)