Turkey deports German journalist who tried to write article on Armenian Genocide

According to an article published by the Diken.com news portal, citing Der Spiegel’s report on the incident, photojournalist Andy Spyra was sent back to Germany after being held overnight at the detention center of İstanbul’s Atatürk Airport.

Spyra reportedly boarded a Turkish Airlines flight from Germany’s Dusseldorf en route to İstanbul on March 28 to cover an article about the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. When he landed in İstanbul, four civilians took him to a special security area and told him to open his luggage, Sunday’s Zaman reports. Spyra reportedly tried to tell the officials he is a journalist and showed them his hotel reservation; however, the officials would not listen to him, he said. The journalist said he was told he would be sent to Dusseldorf the next morning and he was taken to the airport’s detention center.

“Turkish authorities told their German colleagues that I was believed to be a jihadist due to my khaki-colored clothes and ‘military equipment.’ … However, we later learned that the night that I was in the airport the German Consulate General informed Turkish authorities that I am a journalist and made a formal protest.”

Last year, Der Spiegel magazine withdrew its Turkey reporter Hasnain Kazim after the journalist received death threats over reports covering a deadly disaster at the Soma coal mine that killed 301 miners. Kazim reportedly received over 10,000 threats via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter, one of which included a threat to “cut his throat if seen on the street.”