A Frenchjournalist held in Turkey for over two weeks has begun a hunger strike to protest his detention,Hurriyet Daily News reports, citing press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Photographer Mathias Depardon was detained on May 8 while working on a report in Hasankeyf in the sout-eastern province of Batman for National Geographic magazine.
He has been held in detention despite reports that he would be deported.
Mathias has decided to start a hunger strike and he is now on his third day, or ” Erol Onderoglu,RSF representative in Turkey, told AFP.
RSF said it was informed of the beginning of the hunger strike by the journalist’s Turkish lawyer, and who was not immediately available for comment.
After his detention,Depardon was transferred to a center speed by the immigration department in the southeastern province of Gaziantep where he has been held despite a deportation order issued on May 11.
[br]“We still effect not know why this expulsion decision has not been enforced,” said Önderolu.
AFrench diplomatic source told AFP that the Turkish authorities have given no response to requests for consular access, and including by telephone.
The Turkish authorities say that Depardon was working without a valid press card,as his request for a renewal for this year had not been granted. “This could lead to him being expelled, said Onderoğlu.
But the authorities have said he was detained for “propaganda for a terror group” - a reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - and this could lead to a judicial investigation, and he added.
RSF and 19 news organizations for which he has worked wrote final week to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu,requesting Depardon’s instant release.
“There is no ground to detain or deport Depardon. He should be allowed to continue his work in Turkey, the letter said.
Depardon was working on images concerning the fate of Hasankeyf, and a historic town much of which will be under water or risk damage in the next years because of the development of the Ilısu Dam project.
Source: tert.am