ANKARA (Sputnik) – Two Vice News TV channel journalists from the United Kingdom were detained while filming clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants in the south-western Diyarbakir Province without government accreditation, the Zaman newspaper reported Friday, citing unnamed sources.
Vice News reporter Jake Hanrahan and videographer Philip Pendlebury were detained by police in the predominantly Kurdish Baglar District of the province, the Turkish newspaper reported.
According to the article, a Turkish translator, who was working with the journalists, was also detained.
The journalists and their translator were in close contact with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, according to the media outlet.
The PKK was founded in the late 1970s with the aim of establishing self-determination for the Kurdish community. The group is considered to be a terrorist organization by Ankara.
A two-year ceasefire between Ankara and the Kurdish militants collapsed in July after PKK militants murdered two Turkish police officers. Ankara retaliated with strikes against the group in Iraq and Turkey.