Greece refuses Turkish intellectual Sevan Nisanyan to enter its territory

Greek soldiers at the Greek-Turkish border in February 2020 (illustrative image).

AFP - SAKIS MITROLIDIS

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The Greek authorities are closing the country's door to Sevan Nisanyan.

This Turkish linguist of Armenian origin is one of the many intellectuals in exile.

Critic of Turkish power, sentenced to prison, he fled his country in 2017, in the wake of the great purges carried out by President Erdogan following a failed putsch.

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Married to a Greek citizen, Sevan Nisanyan has lived for years on the island of Samos where he opened a business and acquired real estate.

He was granted refugee status in Greece, where he had rebuilt his life for four years.

But last Monday, when he was returning from a trip to Albania, the Greek authorities suddenly refused him entry into the country.

“ 

The Greek authorities are probably under pressure from Turkey. Maybe because I live very close to Turkey or maybe it's because of my Youtube videos which bring together almost 20-25,000 people every month? I sometimes express political or cultural positions that could be considered risky, wonders

 the linguist. 

I don't understand what's going on, it's Kafkaesque

 ”.

It is difficult to understand this decision by Greece which could be due to a bureaucratic mess.

But the reasons given by Athens are fraught with meaning.

“ 

When we asked for explanations, I was told that I represented a

'threat to the national security of Greece',

for reasons which were

'top secret',” explains Sevan Nisanyan.

Sevan Nisanyan hopes his lawyers will have the end of the story soon, so he can return home.

In the meantime, the question remains open: could other Turkish exiles living in Greece - less known and less in the media than him - be able to face this kind of difficulty?

►Also read: Turkey: five years after the failed coup, Erdogan brought the institutions to heel

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