ISTANBUL: A French journalist arrested while covering a pro-Kurdish protest in Istanbul is facing the threat of deportation from Turkiye and was transferred to a migrant detention center on Wednesday, his lawyer told AFP.
Raphael Boukandoura, who works for various French publications including Liberation and Courrier International was detained late Monday at a protest over a military operation targeting Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Boukandoura, 35, has lived legally in Turkiye for at least a decade and holds an official press card.
The journalist was transferred to a detention center for migrants, his lawyer Emine Ozhasar told AFP.
“The file is being registered,” she said, adding that there was no decision made yet and that it might be postponed until Thursday.
Asked if Boukandoura may be deported, the lawyer said: “It’s a possibility.”
The detention sparked fury from the French foreign ministry as well as rights groups.
In a statement to AFP on Tuesday, the French foreign ministry said it hoped Boukandoura would be “freed as quickly as possible,” indicating its diplomats in Turkiye were “closely monitoring the situation.”
At the protest, called by the pro-Kurdish party DEM, party officials called for “an immediate halt to the attacks” and the protection of civilians in northeastern Syria.
Police broke up the protest, arresting 10 people, including Boukandoura.
Two weeks ago, Syrian government troops launched an offensive against Kurdish-led forces — an operation publicly welcomed by Turkiye, despite its own efforts to pursue a peace process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to the rights group MLSA, Boukandoura told police he was present strictly as a journalist and covering the protest for the daily Liberation.
During questioning, police also asked Boukandoura about slogans allegedly chanted during the protest.
He said, according to the MLSA, that he did not chant any slogans and was at the scene solely to report.
Erol Onderoglu of media-rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the French journalist facing the risk of expulsion was “unacceptable.”
“It is intended to intimidate journalists covering pro-Kurdish protests in Turkiye,” he told AFP.
Liberation, along with Courrier International, Mediapart and Ouest-France — other outlets that have published Boukandoura’s work — all issued statements calling for his immediate release.