British scholar arrested in Istanbul over ‘terrorist propaganda’ in Kurdish holiday invitations

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, ARMENPRESS. A British academic was arrested in Istanbul for allegedly distributing invitations to Kurdish New Year celebrations. He was accused of spreading “terrorist propaganda” amid the ongoing crackdown on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party and its supporters, “Armenpress” reports citing rt.com website.

Chris Stephenson, a Cambridge University graduate, British national and a professor of computer sciences, who was a lecturer at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, was detained on charges of“making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”

Stephenson was arrested outside an Istanbul police department where he arrived in support of three Turkish academics arrested the day before. According to Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, the scholar was detained for spreading terrorist propaganda because he was in possession of leaflets that contained“PKK messages and images.”

However, according to other reports the leaflets were only invitations to attend the Kurdish Nevruz (New Year) holiday celebrations, and the man was not even distributing them.