Tourist deported after wiping nose with Turkish lira

Badarneh was detained at his Istanbul hotel for 'insulting the signs of state sovereignty'

Palestinian citizen of Israel Mohamad Nader Badarneh was deported from Turkey after posting a video which shows him blowing his nose into a 20 lira ($2.31) note in a restaurant in Istanbul.

Beyoglu District Police Department teams received word of the offence when the footage circulated on Twitter.

The ten-second clip, which has since been removed from Badarneh’s social media pages, displays him ridiculing and blowing his nose into the banknote.

Badarneh was detained at his Istanbul hotel for “insulting the signs of state sovereignty” and handed over to the Provincial Immigration Administration Removal Center for deportation back to Israel.

The Turkish lira has lost more than half of its value against the dollar since the beginning of 2018.

READ: Turkey bans cryptocurrency as payment for goods, services

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