French media urge Turkey to release detained reporter

French news organizations on Saturday urged the Turkish authorities to release a French reporter detained the previous day in southeastern Gaziantep province.


Olivier Bertrand was "detained without reason" during a reporting trip to the area, Isabelle Roberts of online media Les Jours told AFP, adding: "We demand his immediate release.... We are very worried, we are waiting for news."

His detention "is illegitimate and smacks of intimidation", said the general secretary of media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders), Christophe Deloire.

Bertrand's arrest came the same day that Turkey detained the board chairman of opposition daily Cumhuriyet, which has faced an intensifying crackdown since a failed coup in July.

The French reporter was gathering information for a series of stories on post-coup Turkey when he was picked up.

Daily newspapers Le Monde and Liberation also called for his immediate release.
  [dailystar.com.lb/AFP]

   12/11/16