A Turkey-based American journalist says he was denied re-entry at Istanbul Ataturk airport and put on a flight to Chicago.
David Lepeska, who has written for Foreign Affairs and Al Jazeera America, said he was given “no reason” for the decision. He spent several hours at the airport before being put on a Chicago-bound flight. On his Instagram account, he wrote “this is not the last I will see of you, Turkey”.
There was no immediate comment from Turkey’s interior or foreign ministries on his situation.
Lepeska is one of several foreign journalists who have been detained, denied entry or expelled from Turkey. Last fall authorities arrested and then deported two Vice News journalists, detained a Dutch journalist covering the war with Kurdish militants, and journalists critical to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development party (AKP) have been fired or even assaulted. Last month Turkish police seized the country’s largest-circulation newspaper, prompting protests and a riot police response.
Earlier this month, Erdoğan demanded that a German comedian face prosecution for mocking him, a request acquiesced to by German chancellor Angela Merkel. She has since come under pressure to raise freedom of speech issues with the Turkish leader.
