European Federation of Journalists

European Federation of Journalists

French journalist Loup Bureau arrested in Turkey


UPDATE (15/09): Loup Bureau was released on 15 September 2017 after 51 days in custody.

French journalist Loup Bureau was arrested on Wednesday 2 August by the Turkish police following five days of detention in southeastern Sirnak province on the Iraqi-Turkish border. He is detained on charges of “assisting a terror organisation”.

Loup Bureau, 27, is a freelance journalist who worked for Arte, TV5 Monde, Slate. French news agency AFP reported that his charges are related to a report he had done in 2013 with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria – considered by Ankara as a terrorist organisation – which was broadcasted on TV5 Monde. According to Le Monde, Bureau wanted to report about the people living on both sides of the border.

The French ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that they are following “with the greatest attention the situation of our compatriot detained in Turkey”. According to a diplomatic source, “the French embassy in Ankara is in contact with the local authorities in order to exercise a consular protection as soon as possible”.

The EFJ and the IFJ join the French unions the SNJ – SNJ-CGT – CFDT-journalistes in demanding his immediate release. We demand the French government to do everything in its power to obtain Bureau’s release and hold the Turkish authorities accountable for his situation. The case has been submitted to the Council of Europe platform for the protection of journalists.

Foreign journalists are not spared from the many arbitrary arrests currently happening in Turkey. In May, the French journalist Mathias Depardon was deported one month after his arrest in Gaziantep. Deniz Yücel, Turkish correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt is still behind bars as of February and French national Olivier Bertrand was deported in November 2016 while he was working on a report focused on the post-coup situation in Turkey.

In addition, two other Turkish journalists, Murat Güreş and Furkan Gökşen have been taken into custody on Wednesday 2 in the province of Gaziantep.

Photo credit: screenshot Twitter