MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Dunja Mijatovic has not yet responded to the expulsion of the Russian journalists from Turkey in spite of Russia’s demands, Russia’s Ambassador to OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on Monday.
"In the case with the deportation and detention of the Russian journalists in Turkey, to date, we have received no clear response in spite of our active efforts to make this institution react to this incident," he told the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
The diplomat added that there had been no reaction from the OSCE representative to moves to push Russia from the media space in Lithuania, Poland and a number of other countries.
The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier said that on December 7, members of the crew of the Special Correspondent program of the Rossiya 1 TV channel had been detained in in Hatay province in southeastern Turkey bordering Syria as they were on their way to the neighboring province of Gaziantep. The detention was carried out by unknown persons wearing civilian clothes who, in reply to the journalists’ legitimate request, refused to introduce themselves and let them see their IDs. The Russian crew was taken to a police department where they were told about the decision to deport them from Turkey because of, as they were told, "the violation of the rules of activity of foreign journalists in Turkey," the ministry said.
Commenting on the incident, Lukashevich told TASS on Wednesday that the deportation of the Russian journalists from Turkey was an attempt to hamper the work of the media on the issues the Turkish authorities would prefer to keep in the shadow. He noted that the Russian delegation would raise the issue at the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.