Turkey expels Dutch journalist, accuses her of terror links
Reporter Ans Boerma, who covered the Turkish economy, was suddenly deported after Ankara said it was alerted by Dutch intelligence she was suspected of links with a Syrian militant group in a case that highlights the hazards of reporting far from home.
ISTANBUL — Turkey deported a Dutch financial journalist on Thursday, claiming it was acting on a tip from Dutch intelligence officers that said she had links with armed militants in Syria, highlighting the risks freelance journalists face when reporting far from home.
Ans Boersma, a 30-year-old freelance reporter who has covered Turkey for nearly two years, informed colleagues in Turkey that she was boarding a plane after being detained the previous day. She had been at an immigration office applying for her residence permit when she was taken into custody, according to Financieele Dagblad, one of the newspapers where she worked.
“And then suddenly you are on the plane back to the Netherlands. Declared an unwanted person in Turkey,” Boersma tweeted.
Financieele Dagblad editor Jan Bonjer called her deportation a “flagrant violation of press freedom,” raising fears she was being punished for her reporting in a country that jails more journalists than any other and has banished other foreign correspondents for writing stories critical of government policy.
