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Journalist İsmail Saymaz hit with travel ban: 'I see this as intimidation'

Commenting on the travel ban imposed on him via a post on his social media account, İsmail Saymaz expressed his reaction.

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İsmail Saymaz, who wanted to go abroad for a weekend holiday with his family, learned there that a travel ban had been issued against him.

Saymaz, whose passport was seized, shared his reaction on his social media account with the following words:

"A new act of lawlessness has been added to the character assassinations that have been going on for weeks.

While I was setting off for a weekend holiday with my wife, child, and friends, I learned that a travel ban had been imposed on me. My passport was seized.

If I were going to flee…

I would not have gone abroad and returned five times in the last 1.5 months.

I would not have returned on March 12 from Germany, where I went on March 7, knowing full well that there were investigations against me.

Whenever I was summoned to testify by the prosecutor's office, I went running. Last Thursday, I was at the Bakırköy Courthouse for three separate investigations. 

My only crime is journalism…

I have no intention of going anywhere other than Turkey.

I see these actions as intimidation against critical journalism and I reject them."