The Kurd-supporting mayor of the
southern Italian town of Santomenna said Friday that he had been
expelled from Turkey and had his council telephone taken from
him.
"I was arrested last night at Istanbul airport and then
expelled for surreal security reasons," Massimiliano Voza, one
of a group of Italian mayors who have supported initiatives for
the Kurdish people and given honorary citizenship to jailed PKK
leader Abdullah Ocalan.
"I was interrogated and held all night without reason along
with 15 other people from a variety of backgrounds.
"I was even denied the right to call the Italian consulate,
which moved into action on its own thanks to a foreign ministry
initiative.
"They searched me and confiscated my mayor sash and my
council telephone".
Voza is a heart surgeon by profession and he had worked as a
volunteer in the Syrian city of Kobane after it was liberated
from ISIS.
The Comitato Napoli per Kobane association said that Voza had
been arrested simply because he had a ticket for the
Kurdish-majority southwestern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
