Turkey deported a journalist last week for “posting tweets against high-level state officials,” according to an Interior Ministry order obtained by the journalist’s newspaper, Today’s Zaman.
The newspaper explained that Mahir Zeynalov, who was born in Azerbaijan was “put on a list of foreign individuals who are barred from entering Turkey.” The decision came one month after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed a criminal complaint against him for tweeting out links to articles about a corruption scandal involving the Turkish government.
The complaint alleges that Zeynalov “committed a crime by exceeding the limit of criticism.” The journalist’s followers observed the drama in real time as he and his wife, Turkish national Sevda Nur Arslan, surrendered to immigration officials at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on Friday, reports the New York Times. Here are a couple of his tweets.
How Erdogan is covering up the corruption scandal https://t.co/m1LwlvWMn2 #CrackdownOnJudiciaryInTurkey
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) December 26, 2013
Several times every day, Erdoğan threatens prosecutor supervising graft probe: Hang on, we’re not done with you yet https://t.co/CFjx0cNkye
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) December 29, 2013
As part of Turkey’s drive toward a healthy democracy, police detain woman for holding up shoebox to protest Erdoğan https://t.co/UH0EfC9Gya
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) December 30, 2013
Erdoğan is destroying the Turkish democracy he built https://t.co/D3vJpyW7Eq #YalanRüzgarı
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) December 30, 2013
Turkey’s strong leader rapidly losing power and credibility, blaming all except himself https://t.co/Vl2yEhhXQS
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) February 1, 2014
According to Today’s Zaman, the Interior Ministry document explained that Zeynalov’s Twitter comments made it so that his “residence in Turkey is considered detrimental to public security and political and administrative requirements.” Because he didn’t wait for an escort to the airport per deportation procedure, Zeynalov had to pay a fine before he was allowed to board his flight, accompanied by an officer. A photo posted to Twitter showed the journalist being escorted at the airport. He later tweeted a photo of the front page of Today’s Zaman.
Today’s Zaman journalist @MahirZeynalov is being escorted by Turkish police for deportation. pic.twitter.com/jqFant2UzA — Sevda Nur Arslan (@svdarslan) February 7, 2014
Me and my wife after deportation. pic.twitter.com/MMER9Lcz8F — Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) February 8, 2014
The journalist also published his side of the story in the newspaper he works for after he arrived in Azerbaijan. While some government supporters claimed Zeynalov was deported because his residency permit expired, the newspaper responded, saying his papers weren’t due to expire for more than a month.
[Image: Twitter]
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