24/08/2010 17:09
American freelance journalist deported from Turkey
American freelance journalist Jake Hess, 25, detained for allegedly collaborating with Kurdish militants, has been deported to the United States, the Associated Press reported.
Lawyer Serkan Akbas says his client was deported on August 20 after Turkish authorities speeded up the lengthy process.
Jake Hess moved to Turkey about two years ago as a human rights activist concerned about the treatment of Kurds in Turkey and Iraq. Hess volunteered with the Human Rights Association (IHD), a local non-governmental organization that has reported extensively on abuses committed against ethnic Kurds during Turkey's quarter-century long war with PKK, Kurdish Workers’ Party.
On August 11 he was detained because his name appears in a prosecutor's indictment against Kurdish activists charged with links to Kurdish rebels, Turkish authorities said.
Hess says he was arrested because of his writings critical of Turkish treatment of Kurds for Inter Press Service, a Rome-based agency that covers poverty and other issues in developing nations.
Thousands of people have been killed in conflict between Turkey and Kurdish fighters since 1984. Kurdish people have been fighting for decades for the creation of an independent Kurdistan.