Reporters Without Borders calls on the Turkish authorities to quickly clarify the situation of Bram Vermeulen, a well-known reporter for the Dutch liberal daily NRC Handelsblad, who is having difficulty extending his residence permit in Turkey. Vermeulen has been based in Turkey since 2009.
Whenever Vermeulen returns to Turkey from a trip abroad, the immigration authorities tell him he is no longer welcome in the country, and he has not been unable to renew his press card, although no one will explain why.
“The Turkish authorities’ ambiguity is unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “If it continues, Vermeulen will in effect be banned from remaining in Turkey after 1 January.
“This would be the first time a foreign correspondent has been banned since 1995 and would constitute yet further evidence of the government’s hostility towards the international media. We urge the authorities to either renew Vermeulen’s press card or clearly state their reasons for refusing to do so.”
Since the start of 2013, Vermeulen has been stopped and questioned five times by immigration officials on his return from a trip abroad.
“Each time they tell me there is a security problem or I am on a blacklist,” he told Reporters Without Borders. “But they end up letting me in because I have a work permit that is valid until 31 December. No one, neither the Turkish embassy, nor the interior ministry nor any police station, can explain why I am being treated like this.”
One immigration official told him that in future he would not even be able to obtain a tourist visa for Turkey.
Since April, he has been waiting in vain for the renewal of his press card by the General Directorate for Media and Information (BYEGM), an offshoot of the prime minister’s office. He has repeatedly asked officials why he is the only foreign correspondent not to be renewed, but no one has given him an answer.
NRC Handelsblad’s management and the Dutch foreign ministry have also tried, without success, to obtain an explanation from the Turkish government. Without a press card, he will not be able to extend his residence permit.
“I am not accused of any crime,” he added. “I have all the papers that foreign journalists need to have. I see no [legitimate] reason why they are preventing me from doing my job.”
Vermeulen says his coverage of the Gezi Park protests could not be the reason because his problems began before then. He has nonetheless covered many sensitive subjects and has, for example, interviewed members of Turkey’s Kurdish armed separatist movement.
He also did a report on the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C), a small far-left terrorist group that threatened the Dutch NATO troops that were supposed to secure the border between Turkey and Syria.
The last foreign journalist to be treated like this was Reuters correspondent Aliza Markus in 1995. After she was tried and acquitted by a national security court in connection with her coverage of Kurdish villages emptied by the Turkish army, her press card was not renewed and, as result, she had to leave.OCTOBER 18, DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR THE VICTIMS OF KLEPTOCRATIC REGIMES
EU practices double standards in civil rights. It’s freakish for EU to interfere in the civil rights of foreigners, but condone the abuse of my civil rights, a citizen of EU! EU should get its own house in order and quit lecturing others.
It’s been now three years since the freakish Greek government stole my life, my computer, and my files. Nobody cares, nobody gives a damn! I have done absolutely nothing, and I am being persecuted by the Greek government without any reason. This is against all rules of civil society and treaties that Greece has signed.
On October 18, 2010, a gang of six brutal policemen of the violent Greek Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) broke into my home in Athens and stole my computer, software, files, documents, and personal data.
The policechimps locked me in jail for a night, they humiliated me with handcuffs, fingerprints, mug shots, and lies, leaked false information to the media parrots, and the fucking Greek government initiated sham ex-officio court proceedings for a stack of stupid fictitious freakish charges!
There was neither pillow nor toilet facility in my jail cell. I had to urinate in a bottle! I, a 68 years old with high blood pressure, was not allowed to keep my hypertension pills with me. There was neither toilet paper nor soap in the whole CCU jail.
GREECE, A FAILED STATE, THE BLACK SHEEP OF FOURTH REICH, THE PARIAH OF OCCIDENT, ENEMY OF BLOGOSPHERE
Ex-officio law suit, autepageltos αυτεπαγγελτος, the most dreadful word in justice, means the state sues somebody without involvement of the accuser. This terrible scheme has been used by the freakish Greek government to persecute me. Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, sued me, and she wouldn’t show up in court, because the state took over her position!
At the ex-officio law suit, the accuser just hits and runs! This hit-and-run justice is the most disgusting kangaroo justice on Earth. In all civilized nations, the accused is in a position to face his accuser eyeball to eyeball, but not in Greece, a failed state. The fucking accuser slings false accusations against you, the freakish state takes over, the accuser disappears from the kangaroo court, and the trial is postponed infinite times! venitis@gmail.com, http://themostsearched.blogspot.com
0 komentar:
Post a Comment