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A French journalist was among 10 people detained in İstanbul late Monday as police broke up a protest against a Syrian government offensive targeting Kurdish-led forces, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said.
The journalist, Raphael Boukandoura, who works for several French outlets including Ouest-France and Courrier International, was detained outside the DEM Party’s İstanbul headquarters in Sancaktepe, the party said.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) confirmed the arrest and called for his immediate release.
“We call for the immediate release of our colleague who did nothing but his legitimate duty to cover a protest,” RSF’s Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu told Agence France-Presse. “RSF is closely following his case and calls on the authorities to put an end to such arbitrary interference against media professionals,” he said.
Police intervened after a DEM Party statement was read out calling for an immediate halt to attacks and for the protection of civilians in northeastern Syria, according to Turkish media reports.
Syrian forces began an offensive nearly two weeks ago that pushed the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces out of parts of Aleppo and expanded over the weekend deeper into territory that Kurdish-led forces have controlled for more than a decade.
Ankara has backed the Syrian government’s push and described it as part of a fight against terrorism, but the advance has triggered protests among Kurds in Turkey.
Kurds make up about one-fifth of Turkey’s population of roughly 86 million. The escalation has also renewed questions about the future of the government’s efforts for peace with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
© Agence France-Presse