French media urge Turkey to release detained reporter

ISTANBUL

French news organizations have urged Turkish authorities to release a French reporter detained on Nov. 11 in the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

Olivier Bertrand was “detained without reason” during a reporting trip to the area, Isabelle Roberts of online media Les Jours told Agence France-Presse. “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 frontières (Reporters Without Borders), Christophe Deloire.

Daily newspapers Le Monde and Libération also called for his immediate release. 

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

Roberts told Reuters that Bertrand had been detained along with a photographer but that while the photographer had been released, Bertrand had been kept in custody.

“No reason has been given for their detention,” added Roberts.