Dutch journalist Boersma deported from Turkey for terrorism links

Turkish authorities have arrested and deported Dutch journalist Ans Boersma, after Dutch authorities said she was a “suspect in an ongoing investigation into terrorism”.

Boersma had been working in Turkey as a journalist since 2017. She recently had her press credentials renewed for 2019 to work for, among others, financial newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad.

On Wednesday morning, she arrived at the immigration service where she was apprehended and told she would be deported.

She tweeted on Thursday saying she was put on a plane to the Netherlands.

En dan zit je ineens in het vliegtuig terug naar Nederland. Ongewenst persoon verklaard in Turkije. #pressfreedom #freeturkeymedia https://t.co/xBUdFkhlbs

— Ans Boersma (@AnsBoersma) January 17, 2019

On her arrival, she was not arrested by Dutch police, the justice department said.

Sources in Turkey confirmed to Al Jazeera that the 31-year-old Boersma was not deported because of her work as a journalist.

Turkish authorities said Boersma was suspected of having ties to the al-Nusra front, which recently rebranded to Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

President Tayyip Erdogan’s office said Turkish authorities had received Dutch police intelligence saying Boersma “had links to a designated terrorist organisation [as well as] a request for information about her movements in and out of Turkey,” according to Reuters news agency.

Details about the investigation in which Boersma plays a part, were not released either by neither Dutch nor Turkish authorities.

Het Financieele Dagblad, Boersma’s main employed, said it will fight Boersma’s deportation.