Washington, DC - A longtime controversial figure in Turkey, acclaimed author Ismail Besikci became subject of a new round of controversy on Sunday when Turkish authorities prevented him from boarding a Washington DC-bound airplane.
Turkish airport authorities reportedly informed Mr. Besikci that his 10-year U.S. visa, which had been issued nearly a week earlier, was no longer valid because of an order they had received from the U.S.
On Wednesday, a Rudaw reporter asked the U.S. State Department on whether Washington had been behind the cancelation of Mr. Beskici’s visit.
Citing legal grounds, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki refused to provide any information on why Mr. Besikci could not make it to the U.S.
“Section 22F of the INA [Immigration and Nationality Act] prohibits us from disclosing details from individual cases,” she said.
Kani Xulam, a Washington-DC based author and Kurdish rights activist, was involved in arranging Mr. Besikci’s visit to the American University where he was scheduled to talk about Turkey’s longstanding Kurdish issue.
He says he would be surprised if the U.S. was behind the cancelation of the visit.
“Mr. Besikci is 75 years old. [He’s] the gentlest man you’d ever know. If you ever meet him, he’s very soft-spoken. He’s harmless. The only harm he could cause is with his ideas,” said Mr. Xulam.
