7 foreign nationals detained for alleged role in Gezi Park protests

ISTANBUL

AA Photo

Some seven foreign nationals living in Turkey were detained June 5 on accusations that they were helping provoke the Gezi Park protests. Six of them in Istanbul and one in Ankara were detained, and a deportation demand was reported for four of them.

Evaluation procedures are continuing into the two French citizens, two Iranians, a Greek, a U.S. citizen and a German, Turkey’s Interior Minister Muammer Güler said on June 6.

One of the French citizens is a student in Turkey for Erasmus, an exchange student program, while the other is in Turkey for a European Union project, a source with knowledge of the issue told the Hürriyet Daily News.

The German citizen was said to be visiting Turkey for touristic reasons, the source said, adding that the individual could be deported.

A Greek national, Giorgos Iatridis, is also among the detainees, the Greek Consulate in Istanbul has confirmed to the Daily News.

Embassies of the United States and the United Kingdom in Ankara have stated that allegations about individuals holding these countries’ diplomatic passports being taken under custody, were not confirmed by Turkish authorities.

The British Consulate in Istanbul said in a posting on its twitter account that no Britisih citizens had been taken into custody.

Earlier some media outlets had reported that there were diplomatic staff among the detainees.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a press conference today in Tunisia that those detained did not hold diplomatic passports but were merely foreigners.

Six of the detainees were taken to the prosecutor’s office for their testimonies, he added.

The protests entered their 10th day today, with demonstrations still taking place nationwide.

Dilara Sarı and Erdem Güneş from Istanbul contributed to this report.