Journalist, correspondent of Azerbaijani newspaper “Zerkalo” Rauf Mirkadirov was deported from Turkey. According to the Azerbaijani news agency “Turan” Mirkadirov’s family has remained in Turkey.

Earlier the news agency has reported that Rauf Mirkadyrov was arrested in Ankara on Friday. The journalist’s wife told “Turan” that the police has drop them off the bus with the child, they checked their documents and took her husband away. To the question what the matter was, she was told that his documents had expired. Later, Mirkadyrov wife was told that he was to be deported without explanation of the reasons.

The agency notes that Rauf Mirkadirov lives with his family in Ankara for three years already. He actively writes on international topics and has criticized Erdogan government policy in his articles many times.

There is no doubt that the real reason for his arrest and deportation is his journalistic activities. It was impossible to get a comment on this matter from the Azerbaijani Embassy to Ankara, the article reads.

As Elchin Shikhli, editor of “Zerkalo”, told “Turan” the pressure on Rauf Mirkadirov had started two weeks ago. “He was suddenly deprived of accreditation. After that, we turned to the Turkish Ambassador to Baku and the Azerbaijani embassy to Ankara. They gave no response. Moreover, the efforts of the lawyer, to appeal the deprivation of the accreditation, were not even considered. Rauf later was told to leave Turkey until April 23 and never return back again. On April 18, he decided to leave the country, and when he was arrested, he told the police that he was leaving already, and there were no reasons to detain him. However, apparently, the authorities of the brotherly country needed to deport the objectionable journalist from the country publically,” said the editor.

The article recalls that in February another Azerbaijani journalist, 27-year-old Mahir Zeinalov, was deported from Turkey. He was a correspondent for the Turkish newspaper Today Zaman.