National Press Club calls on Turkey to allow NYT reporter in country

The National Press Club released the following statement from President Jeff Ballou regarding the case of Rod Nordland, a correspondent for the New York Times, who was detained and expelled from Turkey on Tuesday while attempting to enter the country on a reporting trip.

"We at the National Press Club call on the government of Turkey to reconsider its position on access for veteran New York Times journalist Rod Nordland who was detained and expelled on Tuesday. Mr. Nordland, who is a member of our club of longstanding, has reported from more than 150 countries during his distinguished career. The list of countries that have tried to ban him is small but includes North Korea, Iran and at various times Iraq, Zaire and Burma. Turkey, a key U.S. ally and a NATO member, has now been added to that list. This incident along with Turkey’s appalling record on jailing journalists is simply too much. Turkey has gone too far in its efforts to repress journalists and journalism. We call for a reversal of policy against the press by Turkey starting with a reinstatement of Mr. Nordland's freedom to enter the country as a journalist. It should be noted that the government offered no reason why Mr. Nordland was detained and expelled. It should also be noted that he was allowed to travel there just last month and the government was displeased with some of the contents of his reporting. So it is clear he is being banned for practicing journalism. This should be an international embarrassment for Turkey and we call on the government of Mr. Erdogan to immediately address the issue."

Mr. Ballou is the 110th President of the National Press Club and a journalist working for Al-Jazeera. He, along with Mr. Nordland, is a graduate of the journalism program at Penn State.

The National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists and was founded in 1908. The Club is a strong advocate for press freedom and currently has 3,100 members worldwide.

Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club