In the autumn of 2015, the Danish journalist, Mr Nagieb Khaja, was detained and severely beaten up by the Turkish border police when he tried to illegally cross the Turkish-Syrian border even though he told them that he was a journalist and showed his press card. After the beating up and a thorough search of his belongings, Mr Nagieb Khaja was sent over the border into Syria.
At the beginning of February 2016, the Danish journalist, Mr Claus Blok Thomsen, was detained when he arrived at Istanbul International Airport and told that he was a threat to national Turkish security and would therefore never be allowed to enter the country. He identified himself as a journalist to no avail; instead he was ordered to open his telephone and computer in order for the police to check his mailing lists.
Mr Villumsen,
To ask the Committee of Ministers,
In the light of these two incidents, what the Committee of Ministers intends to do to make the Turkish authorities meet their obligations in compliance with the Council of Europe standards on the freedom of the press?