Press Release, March 9 2015, Ankara:

According to Reporters Without Borders, Turkey has dropped to number 154 out of 180 countries in its 2014 Press Freedom Index. Foreign journalists in Turkey have been silenced through fear of losing their residence permit or actual deportation and banning. These bans often come without explanation.

Dr. Amy L. Beam, an American human rights activist and owner of Mount Ararat Trek, is one of the latest journalists to be banned. The renewal of her residence permit was denied Nov. 28, 2014, under Law 6458, Article 33/1- ç. The reason was ambiguously stated as being “inappropriate.” However, the correct wording of the law states the residence permit may be denied “when an entry ban or removal decision exists.”

Last November the Sirnak police noted in the computer that Beam had visited Beytussebap, a small mountain village in southeast Turkey near the border of Iraq. They gave the reasons of “ç” and “g” under Law 6458 for denying her residence permit.

Article 54/1-g states a removal decision may be ordered for a foreigner who overstays the expiry date of his or her residence permit. Beam, however, left Turkey voluntarily one month before her residence permit expired in January. It was not until January that she learned of the ban.

“Secretly,” Beam explains, “word came to me that the real reason was because of my ‘Kurdish politics’ and my writing on the internet.” She is writing a book about Kurds in Turkey and has traveled extensively in eastern and southeastern Turkey since 2007. She tweets @amybeam and publishes her articles online at Kurdistan Tribune. Older blogs are here.

Residence permits and entry bans are governed under Turkey’s Law 6458, Law on Foreigners and International Protection which became effective in April 2014. The law reflects an effort to bring Turkish law into accordance with EU standards and remove the arbitrariness of denying residence permits and banning foreigners from Turkey. In addition, the law also provides for protection of refugees such as the 25,000 Yazidis from Iraq and over one million Kurds and other ethnic groups from Syria.

A residence permit can only be denied if an entry ban exists under Law 6458, Article 9(1). An entry ban can be ordered if a foreigner was deported or if he or she is “undesirable for reasons of public order, public security or public health.” Beam was not deported, neither was she charged with any crime or illness related to “public order, public security, or public health.”

Beam is appealing her entry ban and denial of residency in an Administrative Court in Ankara. Salih Efe, her attorney, was one of the many human rights activists and lawyers who advised legislators on drafting the new Law on Foreigners and International Protection. Efe states, “This will be a test case for Law 6458. We hope the judiciary will exercise its independence from the police and dismiss the ban which was placed against Dr. Beam without justification.”

more detail here:

English: http://kurdistantribune.com/2015/american-writer-banned-from-turkey/

Turkish: http://kurdistantribune.com/2015/amerikali-yazar-amy-beamin-turkiyeye-girisi-yasaklandi/

Contact:

Dr. Amy L. Beam

amybeam@yahoo.com

Skype: amyLbeam

+1 240 696 1905

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