ANKARA (Sputnik) — Kerimov's flight left the Turkish city of Istanbul at 3:30 p.m. local time (12:30 GMT).
Kerimov arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday but was stopped by a border control officer who said the journalist was flagged as persona non grata by the Turkish authorities. The journalist, who was also stripped of his accreditation and residence permit in Turkey, subsequently spent 14 hours in the airport.
Later in the day, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said that the decision to ban Kerimov from entering the country was made by Turkey’s security services.
