Two Citizens of France Not Allowed to Enter Turkey to Present Award to Demirtaş

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Two citizens of France has not been allowed to enter Turkey, where they came to present the Montluc Resistance and Liberty Award to the Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş's wife Başak Demirtaş.

The award was given to a book penned by Demirtaş, titled "Dawn: Stories," in February. The book sold thousands of copies in a short time after it was published on September 14, 2017.

The revenue from the book will be used to support the education of the children and youth.

In December 2018, the English PEN writers' association gave the "PEN Translates Award" to the book, which was also translated to Kurdish.

No explanation for disallowance

Emmanuelle Collas publishing house, which gives the prominent Montluc Award, assigned Michel Laurent and Sylvie Jan to deliver the award to Başak Demirtaş.

Their attorneys Ayşe Acınıklı and Mahmut Erol released a written statement last night (March 20):

"Laurent and Jan were not allowed to enter Turkey, where they came on March 18, 2019, because Laurent was banned from entering the country. Jan feared to leave Laurent alone and also did not enter Turkey.

"There has not been a statement made about why the Governor of İstanbul banned Laurent from entering Turkey."

They could not meet attorneys because 'the airport is new'

The attorneys also said that they were not able to meet their clients in the İstanbul Airport:

"At the İstanbul Airport where we went on March 19, 2019, we were prevented from meeting with our clients on the ground of a simple reason such as 'the airport is new," and our clients were deprived of their right to defense.

"The authorities told the reason for the ban neither to us nor our clients.

"Our clients have unlawfully not been allowed to enter Turkey. As if this was not enough, they have been held in a windowless room for 40 hours, until their deportation."

The attorneys added that they will take legal action "for the lift of the unlawful ban."

(AS/VK)