(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the immediate release of a Greek television journalist and his engineer who were arrested and detained by the Turkish army on 7 October 2003. Yiannis Kanelakis, of the independent televison station Mega, was arrested along with his colleague Anestis Moutafis in Caykara, near Trabzon, in northern Turkey. RSF Secretary-General […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the immediate release of a Greek television journalist and his engineer who were arrested and detained by the Turkish army on 7 October 2003. Yiannis Kanelakis, of the independent televison station Mega, was arrested along with his colleague Anestis Moutafis in Caykara, near Trabzon, in northern Turkey.
RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard urged Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu to give the organisation and the Greek consulate an explanation for the arrests. He also asked for details of the charges the journalists are facing. RSF reminded the Turkish authorities of their commitment to respecting the European Union’s democratic principles on press freedom and, in particular, their pledge not to pursue abusive cases against journalists for “insulting the nation.”
Kanelakis was reporting on the Greek Pontiac people, who live in the Pontos area of Turkey. He was accompanied by Stefanos Taximanidis, president of the Greek Pontiacs Federation, and his assistant, Stathis Taxidis. Police first arrested the team on 5 October after a local resident complained they were “making Pontiac propaganda.” The four individuals were then picked up by the army on 7 October and placed in detention. Taximanidis and Taxidis were later released but the journalists remain in detention. Their tape recordings and papers were confiscated.
The Greek consulate in Turkey said the authorities planned to check the contents of the three recordings to ensure they did not contain any footage that might be “insulting” to Turkey.
