Journalism body slams accusation of ‘espionage’ against Turkey reporters in Greece

On the background of the fact that an extremist Greek website accused the agency’s team that visited “Meis” island of espionage… 

The Global Journalism Council (GJC) yesterday condemned accusation of espionage levelled by the Greek website TourkikaNea.gr against the Anadolu Agency team.

The Greek site published passports, photos and other personal information of the agency’s journalists, details which were only in the possession of the Greek authorities, in a move the GJC said was “a matter of concern.”

Anadolu correspondent in Athens, Tevfik Durul, and the photographer Ayhan Mehmet, arrived on Wednesday evening on the island of Meis to cover the dispute over Turkey’s seismic survey in the area which is contested by Greece.

The website known for its hostility to Turkey said: “Why do we allow Turkish citizens who work as spies for the Turkish intelligence services to visit the island of Meis? Why have we allowed them to reach the island? Do we know what these spies will do there?”

The website published an image of Durul’s passport showing all his personal information.

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The Council added, in its statement, that “the Greek authorities have not yet explained how the racist website published the main page of the passport since Durul did not share it anywhere during his trip between Athens and Meis.”

The statement indicated that “it is understood that the personal information and the photo of the Anadolu correspondent was given to this news site by the Greek authorities.”

The Council also condemned the “targeting of journalists”, calling on “all international professional journalism organisations to condemn the actions of the Greek authorities and this website, which endanger the lives of foreign journalists in their country.”

Condemning the report, Director General of Anadolu Agency, Senol Kazanci, said: “We are waiting for the Greek authorities to provide clarifications about how our correspondents’ personal information was leaked, as that information and passport photos are supposed to be in the hands of the official authorities only; and we ask them to apologise for this leak.”

Greek authorities recently sent a military force to the island of Meis in violation of historic demilitarisation deals signed between Greece and Turkey. The island stands about 2.1 kilometres from the Turkish mainland and 580 kilometres from the Greek mainland.