Turkey: Sputnik Turkey chief banned from entering Istanbul

Sputnik's Turkish bureau chief Tural Kerimov was denied entry into Turkey after arriving at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Wednesday. The move came less than one week after authorities shut down Sputnik's news services in the Turkey.
Discussing the incident in an exclusive interview with RT, Kerimov said: "I was asked to show my documents. I gave them the boarding card of the Moscow-Istanbul flight, the citizen's passport of the Russian Federation, the press-card which was given to me by the Main Directorate of Media and Information which subordinates to the prime minister of the Turkish Republic, and the residence permit which was given to me by the department of the migration service in Istanbul."
"After the checks and waiting I was given the notification that I am not welcomed into the country. So, the entry to the country was restricted for me," he added.
In recent months Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has made moves to crackdown on media that is critical of Ankara. However Kerimov's ban and the closure of Sputnik's Turkish bureau is the first time an international news agency has been affected by the crackdown.