Turkey: Belgian journalists held in SE Turkey
Three Belgian journalists -- briefly detained in southeastern Turkey -- freed after being quizzed over their plan to cross into Syria
SANLIURFA, Turkey
Turkish policemen briefly detained three Belgian journalists -- who planned to cross into Syria -- in southeastern province of Sanliurfa on Sunday.
Security sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the journalists wanted to enter Syria to cover war-torn Kurdish-populated Kobani town near the border with Turkey.
The journalists, Robin Rama Ekers, Jo Verstichel and Nicolas Becker, were freed after being questioned over observing the Kobani side from a house in Sanliurfa’s border district of Birecik.
Daesh militant group attacked Kobani in mid-September 2014, with the town turning into a scene of fierce clashes between Kurdish groups and the militants.
Kobani has been declared free from Daesh but the city was totally destroyed during the war and about 180,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees remain in Turkey.
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