Dutch Journalist detained by Turkish Police

On Tuesday, a Dutch journalist said that the Turkish police accused her of spreading terroristic propaganda after they raided her home in the south eastern city of Diyarbakir.

The journalist, Frederike Geerdink communicated through her Twitter account and said that the police made the allegation before they took her to the police station. Geerdink was then questioned for three hours and finally released.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, currently visiting Turkey, tweeted that he was “shocked” by the arrest, adding that he would discuss it with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. Incidents of this kind are however not rare as the authorities often accuse journalists of spreading “terrorism propaganda”. The non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders has called the country the “world’s biggest prison for journalists”.

Turkish authorities have in the past avoided interfering with foreign journalists, with a notable exception in the brief detention of CNN correspondent Ivan Watson, back in June. The latter was reporting anti-government protests in Istanbul.