The ARD correspondent Volker Schwenck flying from Istanbul to Cairo. The journalists had been denied before the entry into Turkey. The head of the ARD television studio in Cairo was fixed at Istanbul airport, a spokesman of the Südwestrundfunk (SWR). Schwenck came therefore from Cairo and was on his way to a documentary on refugees in the Turkish-Syrian border.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) expressed afternoon worried her deputy Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) spoke of a “more than problematic act”.
It is still unclear exactly what happened at the Turkish airport. Also Schwenck could not say why he was placed in a Abschieberaum and detained for nearly twelve hours initially. In the morning he wrote on Twitter, he had been informed that there was a note on his behalf. In the ARD Tagesthemen Schwenck said it was the talk of border violation, an exact reason was not mentioned him. The officers had treated him decently, and he was allowed to move freely in the police station.
Schwenck frequently reported from northern Syria
Schwenck had reported frequently in the past from the rebel-held areas in northern Syria, traveling to the journalists usually via Turkey. Turkey has tolerated such trips long or even allowed, evaluates now but as illegal border crossings.
In recent months, several journalists have been denied entry into Turkey. Others were reported, among other things because of illegally crossing the border from Syria.
Angela Merkel said that the Foreign Ministry is in constant contact with all the necessary places and sat down also that the working capacity of the journalists will be quickly restored. From the Foreign Ministry stated, employees of the German Consulate General were driven to the airport to make contact with the Germans, the entry was denied. Even high-ranking representatives of the Centre would have had direct contact with him.
The German Journalistinnen- and Journalists Union (dju) criticized “a questionable and reprehensible understanding of press and freedom of information” in Turkey. The German Journalists Association (DJV) described the entry ban as “harassment”. Now avenge “the willingness of the Chancellor in case Böhmermann against the Turkish President Erdoğan”.
No reference to Böhmermann Case
Concrete evidence of an association between the visa ban for Schwenck and the case Böhmermann there is not. The legal and diplomatic action by Turkey against the ZDF satirist Jan Böhmermann because of its libelous poem against the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had sparked a heated debate in Germany and worried about the country’s borders for attention.
The Greens Bundestag member Tabea Rößner urged Merkel to address the issue of press freedom in their trip to Turkey next Saturday. “Unfortunately, the fixing of the ARD correspondent fits in the repressive policies which Turkey takes place in view of the press and freedom of expression in recent months.”
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