Turkish Cypriot journalist banned from entering Turkey

A Turkish Cypriot journalist on Tuesday said she had been banned from entering Turkey on the basis that she is a threat to the country’s national security.

Aysu Basri Akter told Yeni Duzen she was taken into custody at Antalya airport at 11pm on Monday and spent the night under police surveillance. The journalist had travelled to the city on holiday with her two children and husband.

According to her statement, she was not allowed to enter the country on the basis of a regulation according to which Turkey has previously cited to deport T/C dissidents. The regulation refers to people who pose a threat to national security.

Akter, who used to head the Bayrak newspaper, was then deported to the north at 6am on Tuesday.

She was informed that she can go to Turkey with a ‘visa requirement’. However, the ‘embassy’ in the north announced that no visa was issued for Akter.

Yeni Duzen added that Akter had recently prepared a special file entitled ‘Democracy, Will, Intervention’, in which she recorded Turkey’s interventions in the Turkish Cypriot community in Cyprus.

Over the past year Turkey has expelled Turkish Cypriot dissidents who have recently supported the leadership of Mustafa Akinci and insisted on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal solution.