Turkey detains Dutch journalist on 'terror' charges
Turkish police detained a Dutch reporter on terrorism charges on Tuesday, highlighting accusations of media persecution on a day President Tayyip Erdogan declared that Turkish journalists enjoyed more freedom than any in Europe.
Frederike Geerdink, based in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, tweeted that police had searched her home and were taking her into custody on charges related to "propaganda for a terrorist organisation". The Dutch Foreign Minister, on a visit to Ankara, said he was shocked.
A police official said on condition of anonymity that Geerdink, a prolific Twitter user who reports for Dutch radio and newspapers including Het Parool in the Netherlands and Britain's Independent, had been detained on the prosecutor's order and would be released after giving a statement.
Geerdink, a freelancer based in Turkey since 2006, is the author of "De jongens zijn dood" ("The Boys Are Dead"), a book published last year that examines the 2011 bombing by Turkish military planes that killed 35 Kurdish civilians.
