Turkey to deport British human rights researcher

NEW YORK, Apr 13 (Reuters) Turkish police have detained a British researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch for alleged visa violations and intend to deport him shortly, the rights group said.

The researcher, Jonathan Sugden, was probing alleged abuses in the predominately Kurdish southeast of the country that involved Turkish police and government-armed local defense units, Human Rights Watch said in a statement yesterday.

''The desire to cover up human rights abuses is evidently still very strong, despite recent moves towards more accountability in Turkey's bid for membership in the European Union,'' said Holly Cartner, the group's Europe and Central Asia director.

Sugden was detained in the southeastern town of Bingol yesterday and taken to Istanbul, where he is expected to spend the night in police custody before being deported to London today, Cartner said.

Sugden is a fluent Turkish speaker with some 15 years of experience monitoring human rights in Turkey.

The Turkish authorities said he did not have a valid authorization to be carrying out human rights work in Turkey and was in the country on a tourist visa, Cartner said.

But she said Sugden had traveled to Turkey repeatedly on such a visa, with the knowledge of Turkish authorities and without being detained.

''This really isn't about the visa at all. This is about the authorities not wanting to let us document the abuses there,'' Cartner said.

Dozens of people have been killed in Turkey's southeast over the past month, both in clashes between rebels and the security forces and in street protests involving Kurdish civilians.

REUTERS DH BD0639