YEREVAN, JULY 17, ARMENPRESS. Sevan Nishanyan, the Istanbul-based ethnic Armenian scholar and linguist has officially been declared a fugitive by Turkish authorities. An arrest warrant has been issued, Hurriyet reports.

Nishanyan has been serving a 17-year prison term since 2014 in a minimum security “open” correctional facility. On July 14, he exited the premises and never returned.

Since he refused to surrender to authorities within 48 hours, he was declared a fugitive on July 16.

Shortly after escaping prison, the scholar tweeted : “The bird flew away – with the same wishes to the remaining 80 million”.

He even gave an interview to a local newspaper, mentioning that it’s easy to escape prison if one has the necessary financial means.

Nishanyan was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey for carrying out “illegal” construction in his own garden.

Even Turkish media said the arrest was an obvious framing by Turkish authorities, because Nishanyan has publicly criticized Turkey’s government’s mistakes.

Numerous activities and individuals have called for his release, saying that the true reason of his arrest is the fact that he dared to criticize the official history of Turkey by writing the “False Republic” book.