Dutch journalist who criticised Erdogan detained in Turkey

A prominent Dutch journalist was briefly detained by Turkish police while on holiday, Dutch officials said on Sunday, a week after she criticised President Tayyip Erdogan in print for clamping down on dissent.

Columnist Ebru Umar, who is of Turkish descent and an outspoken critic of Erdogan, was detained by police overnight in Turkey where she was on holiday. She tweeted on Sunday that she had been released but was not allowed to leave the country.

In the free newspaper Metro last week, Umar called Erdogan a dictator and criticised a Turkish consular official in the Netherlands for asking all Turks there to report incidents of insults against Erdogan. The call was widely criticised and later withdrawn.

Erdogan is known for his readiness to take legal action over perceived slurs. At his behest, prosecutors in Germany are pursuing a comedian for mocking him. Critics say Erdogan uses the courts to stifle dissent.

Criticism

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, who joined in criticism of the Turkish official’s call, said he had spoken with Umar after her arrest. “Had telephone contact with Ebru Umar last night”, he said on his official Twitter account.

A Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said: “We are aware of this and we are following the situation closely. We are in contact with her.”

On her official Twitter account, Umar tweeted overnight: “Police in front of the door. No joke”. She later tweeted that she was being taken to a police station in Kusadasi, a resort town on Turkey’s Aegean coast.

“Free but under country arrest,” she said in a tweet on Sunday afternoon, her first since her arrest 15 hours earlier.

Umar’s Twitter feed showed she had recently engaged in spirited exchanges with her critics on Twitter. She reposted a tweet from someone claiming to have reported her to the police.

Insulting the president is a crime in Turkey, punishable by up to four years in jail, but the law had previously been invoked only rarely.

Since Erdogan became president in 2014, prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting him, the justice minister said last month.

Those who have faced such suits include journalists, cartoonists, academics and even school children. Erdogan has said he is open to criticism, but draws the line at insults.

Last year, Turkey deported another Dutch journalist after she was detained on suspicion of aiding Kurdish militants. – (Reuters)