ISTANBUL: A French journalist arrested while covering a pro-Kurdish protest in Istanbul remained in police custody on Tuesday, prompting growing calls for his release, including from France’s government.
Raphael Boukandoura, who works for various French publications, including well-known outlets Liberation and Courrier International, was detained late Monday at a protest over a military operation targeting Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Boukandoura has lived legally in Turkiye for at least a decade and holds an official press card.
In a statement to AFP, 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 French daily Liberation.
Erol Onderoglu of media-rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the detention as “arbitrary.”
“Boukandoura is not a protester, and he cannot be treated as a criminal simply because he is a journalist, he is performing a public service,” he told AFP.
“This grave injustice must be reversed.”
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.
France’s National Union of Journalists (SNJ) also urged Turkish authorities to free him, saying he was “simply doing his job.”
“Freedom of information is a fundamental right,” the union said.