Israel deports Turkish citizens after hours-long detention

Israel deported nine Turkish citizens, including journalists and activists, after holding them for over six hours at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport on June 25.
      
Ülke TV Editor-in-Chief Hasan Öztürk, Özden Ayvaz and Hüseyin Günay from TRT News, Halime Kökçe from daily Star newspaper, Memur-Sen Vice Chairman Levent Uslu, and four activists - Kemal Özdal, Dürdane Ozdal, Fatih Bolcan and Sümeyra Bolcan - were detained on arrival at the airport.
      
"We are under detention for six hours at the Ben Gurion Airport with a group of journalists and activists. They questioned us individually," Kökçe wrote on Twitter.
      
She said in another tweet that Israeli officials confiscated the group's cell-phones and quizzed them about their WhatsApp conversations and contacts.
      
In a final tweet, Kökçe said the group had been informed that they were being deported and had been banned from entering Israel for 10 years.