A Canadian journalist who was denied entry to Turkey as a tourist at an İstanbul airport over the weekend due to an “entry ban” has said he suspects Azerbaijan’s involvement due to his extensive and critical reporting on the acts of the Azerbaijani government in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Yerevan-based journalist Neil Hauer, who covers issues related to Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus for international news outlets such as CNN, The Guardian and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBS), announced the details of his deportation from İstanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport on X on Sunday.
Hauer said he was taken aside at passport control upon his arrival at the airport on Saturday and informed that he was “on the blacklist,” detained for 16 hours and ultimately deported back to Yerevan.
The journalist had previously visited Turkey without any difficulty, most recently in the summer of 2022.
An official document given to the journalist says he was denied entry due to an entry ban on him without citing any details.
Hauer said he is certain that the ban has something to do with his work as a journalist, although he is not certain what could have prompted it.
“I rarely report on Turkey, and not on Kurdish or Gulenist issues, the normal cause of foreign journalists having problems there. Considering this, I strongly suspect this ban has been made at Azerbaijan’s request, or at least involvement. I have reported extensively on Azerbaijan’s activities in Nagorno-Karabakh and the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Aliyev regime, which has won me no friends there,” said Hauer.
Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, backed its campaign to drive ethnic Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh last year.
Yesterday, I was blocked from entering the Republic of Turkey. I flew into Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport from Yerevan, Armenia, for purposes of a tourist visit. At passport control, I was taken aside, informed 'you are on the blacklist,' detained for 16 hours and deported back.
— Neil Hauer (@NeilPHauer) November 24, 2024
At the time, Azerbaijan recaptured the mountainous enclave in a one-day offensive that led to the exodus of its entire Armenian population — more than 100,000 people.
Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia — two neighbors who share a painful history — were severed over a number of issues, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is criticized for silencing free media and arresting journalists in Turkey, frequently meets with his Azerbaijani counterpart, President Ilham Aliyev, whom he refers to as a “brother.”
Hauer said he will appeal the entry ban, which he described as “groundless” because he committed no crime.
In his latest filing for CBS, Hauer wrote about a report published by the Washington-based Freedom House which found that Azerbaijan carried out “ethnic cleansing” against the Armenian population 14 months ago in attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh.
He also posted criticism on X of Baku being allowed to host the United Nation’s COP29 climate summit this month despite its ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey, which has been suffering from a poor record of freedom of the press for years, ranks 158th among 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index published on May 3 on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day.