Dutch newspaper fires journalist deported from Turkey - report

Dutch journalist Johanna Cornelia Boersma who, was deported from Turkey on Thursday for her suspected links to a terror group has been fired from Dutch newspaper Het Financieel Dagblad, according to a report by the newspaper.

The report said Boersma in her discussions with the FD, in recent days, has been unable to provide sufficient clarity about her role.

She has reportedly been accused of forging documents for a Syrian who had been arrested in the Netherlands last year on suspicion of participation with Jabhat al Nusra, a terrorist group with historic links to Al Qaeda.

If the FD had known that Boersma had a relationship with the Syrian, this would have been an important reason for the newspaper not to hire her as a freelance correspondent, the report said.

Boersma was deported from Turkey after the Dutch police tipped off their Turkish counterparts about her terror links, Turkey's Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said on Thursday.

"The Netherlands told Turkey that the reporter, who was deported today, had links to Jabhat al Nusra. We acted on intelligence from the Netherlands and took a precautionary measure," Altun added. 

The journalist is a suspect in an ongoing criminal probe into terrorism, but not of terrorism, Dutch media reported, citing the country's prosecutors. 

'We won't speculate'

Altun said, "If a credible foreign government agency tells you that one of their citizens has links to terrorism, you don't take any chances."

"The Dutch authorities alone are in a position to explain why they arrived at that conclusion. We won't speculate on the credibility of their intelligence."

Earlier, in a statement, Altun said the Dutch had requested "information about Boersma's movements in and out of Turkey."

"Rest assured that Ms Boersma's deportation was in no way related to her journalistic activities during her stay in Turkey," the statement said, adding Turkey had issued her a press card, which was valid until January 31, 2019.

Reuters news agency quoting her paper said she had been visiting an immigration office in Istanbul to extend her visa on Wednesday when she was detained.

Boersma's newspaper Financieele Dagblad reported that she was in a relationship until the summer of 2015 with a Syrian man who was arrested in the Netherlands last autumn for being a member of the Al-Nusra Front.

"And Ans thinks it is possible that her deportation is linked" to that relationship, said the newspaper where she started working in February 2017.