According to the Hurriyet daily, Niemela, who had a Finland-issued press card, was detained on Thursday as she attended the funeral of a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered to be a terrorist group by Turkey. She was subsequently taken to a deportation center.
Last week, the chief editor of Sputnik’s Turkish bureau, Tural Kerimov was denied entry to Turkey and stripped of his press accreditation and residence permit for the country before being deported.
Several other reporters, including from Germany and Greece, have been denied entry to the country, while others were detained and subsequently deported.
The international community, including the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations have repeatedly criticized Ankara’s ongoing crackdown on journalists and tight press restrictions.