‘Then, the phone rang’: BBC’s Mark Lowen on being deported from Turkey

I had just sent my family a message saying how happy I was to be back in Turkey, where I used to live, and how it felt like coming home. Then, the phone in my hotel room rang.
“We have an urgent matter to discuss in person,” the receptionist said. “Could you come down?”
I arrived to find three plain-clothes policemen waiting for me. They asked me for my passport and led me away, trying to prevent my colleagues from filming.
I had been in Istanbul for three days by then, covering the anti-government protests sparked by the arrest of the city’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.
I was taken first to the police headquarters and held for seven hours. Two colleagues were allowed to be present and lawyers could come in to talk. The atmosphere was generally cordial. Some of the police officers told me they didn’t agree with what they said was a state decision. One hugged me and said he hoped for my freedom.

Courtesy: BBC