Dutch journalist arrested in southeastern Turkey

A Dutch journalist previously threatened with a five-year jail term for her reporting in Turkey was re-arrested on Sunday.
Frederike Geerdink tweeted on Sunday that she was in custody in the city of Yuksekova, in Hakkari province, after being arrested along with Canli Kalkan Grubu (Human Shield Group) activists.
Geerdink, who is based in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir, had previously been arrested in January and threatened with a five-year jail term for disseminating “terrorist propaganda". She was acquitted in April.
She has frequently reported on the clashes between the Turkish state and the country’s Kurdish minority, leading to accusations of sympathy for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency that has cost over 40,000 lives.
“I’ve always been interested in identity issues – I think that’s eventually what human rights boil down to,” she told the Independent in January.
“The Kurdish issue is the biggest that Turkey has, it is the country’s biggest problem, so for a journalist it’s very relevant. People sometimes ask me why I didn’t choose another group that has problems such as Christians or gay people, but the Kurds are the biggest.”
The Dutch Embassy in Ankara said on Twitter it was concerned by the arrest and was following the case:
Translation: "Foreign Affairs aware of reports about @fgeerdink. Embassy in Ankara following the case and is inquiring with Turkish authorities."
Journalists and Kurdish activists on Twitter were critical of the arrest and supportive of Geerdinke:
Others, primarily Turks, were less supportive:
Her arrest follows the detention of three Vice News journalists, Jake Hanrahan, Philip-Pendlebury and Mohammed Ismael Rasool last week, reportedly for having links to the Islamic State (IS).
Hanrahan and Pendlebury, British citizens, were later released with the expectation that they will be deported. Rasool, an Iraqi Kurd, is still being held in detention.
"While we are grateful that they have been freed, we are deeply worried by reports that our other Vice News colleague, Mohammed Ismael Rasool, has had his appeal of release rejected by the Turkish government," Vice News said in a statement.
"We call on the Turkish authorities for a swift end to this unjust detainment and to grant his immediate release."
Turkey has frequently been criticised by international bodies for its treatment of journalists, particularly those covering the long-standing dispute between the Turkish state and the country’s Kurdish minority.
In 2013, Turkey had the largest number of journalists in jail in the world, often arrested for alleged links with the PKK or Kurdish activist groups, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
"Anti-press measures in Turkey are having a devastating impact on the country's media," the CPJ wrote on its Turkey page.
"Journalists face harassment and prosecution over social media posts; authorities repeatedly gag coverage of sensitive issues; and reporters face detentions, raids, and investigations."
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