Ankara: Dutch-Turkish journalist Ebru Umar a columnist for Metro newspaper, has been detained in Turkey after posting tweets criticising Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ms Umar was in southern Turkey when she was arrested. On Saturday night, she tweeted (in Dutch) that police were at her door.
She was taken to the nearby resort of Kusadasi for questioning and was later released but not allowed to leave
Turkey. On the orders of a prosecutor for social media postings deemed to be “insulting to state leaders.”
She said. “I was treated well, I can’t put it any other way,” and added.
“I had a good evening with a 55-year-old man discussing politics and the situation in Turkey.”
She later said she was “free but forbidden to leave the country”. She said a lawyer is trying to get the travel restriction lifted because she wants to return to the Netherlands.
Since 2014, prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases journalists for insulting Mr Erdogan. Insulting the president is a crime in Turkey punishable by up to four years in jail, but the law has rarely been invoked. Since Erdogan became president.
Her case follows outrage in Germany after the government there gave a green light for authorities to begin criminal proceedings against popular comic Jan Böhmermann for reading a crude poem on TV about Erdoğan,
aimed at testing German law.
Ms Umar was detained as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and an EU delegation were in Turkey for talks about the implementation of an agreement on migration.
The EU leaders have been accused of not speaking out against Turkey’s crackdown on freedom of expression because of the country’s role in stopping the refugee influx.