BBC reporter Mark Lowen detained, deported while covering Turkey protests
March 27 (UPI) -- BBC News correspondent Mark Lowen said Thursday that he was detained and ultimately deported while covering mass protests in Turkey.
"Some news about me," Lowen wrote in an X post. "Yesterday I was detained by police in Istanbul, held for 17 hours and then deported from Turkey to the U.K.," and that he was "Told I was 'a threat to public order.'"
The BBC released a statement Thursday addressing Lowen's arrest.
"This is an extremely troubling incident and we will be making representations to the Turkish authorities," BBC News CEO Deborah Turness said.
Turness then complimented Lowen's work and rebuked what Turkey did, noting that the network "will continue to report impartially and fairly on events in Turkey."
"To be detained and deported from the country where I previously lived for five years and for which I have such affection has been extremely distressing," Lowen said upon his arrival to London Thursday,
Protests in several Turkish cities over Thursday, Friday and Saturday followed the arrest of opposition leader and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu during an early-morning raid Wednesday, which then led to the arrest of hundreds of protestors. The move could mean Turkey has moved away from a democratic system of government, The Guardian reported.
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