On the morning of March 27, the phone rings at the hotel room in Istanbul. The BBC reporter and former Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen is asked to come to the reception. There he is arrested by a civilian police.
– It’s absurd, I had just done my job, done interviews and filmed, and also reported the Turkish government and President Erdogan’s view of the protests, says Lowen.
He had returned to the city to monitor the mass protests, which are about the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
But after only a few days reporting So he was arrested. After a total of 17 hours as deprived of liberty, he sat on a flight back to London – expelled on the grounds that he “poses a threat to the general order”.
When the news of the deportation began to spread throughout the world, Turkish authorities came up with an explanation that the low was missing the right accreditation. An ex -post construction to justify the arrest, the low himself is convinced because he has previously had no problems with the accreditation in Turkey.
– To suddenly be accused of being a threat to the general order, as an international journalist feels Kafkaeskt and illustrates the threat to freedom of speech and democracy.
Lowen knows about the arrest of Joakim Medin but not any details about the case. He, on the other hand, notes that during his own time there as a correspondent, between 2014 and 2019, it was the country in the world that imprisoned the most journalists. The fact that the space for democratic debate has decreased as Erdogan tries to cling to power.
– It is a difficult and dangerous job to be a journalist in Turkey, especially for Turkish journalists. I was lucky to have a large organization like the BBC behind me. I was not badly treated, but that is not the case for many other arrested who do not have the same protection.
– My thoughts go to the Swedish journalist, and we will see what happens.
Want the government to put pressure
Erik Larsson, chairman of reporters without borders, also notes that the situation for journalists in Turkey is poor, with many arrested and detainees.
– We also see that those who have written on social media about the protests have had their posts removed.
– It is clear that it is worrying that Joakim has not been released. Therefore, it is so important that the Swedish government does everything they can to press and get him free.