Turkish authorities arrested content creator Arif Kocabiyik at the Kapikule border crossing in Edirne province while he was trying to slip into Bulgarian territory hidden inside the rear compartment of a cargo truck trailer, together with another man holding Iranian citizenship.
X-ray screening equipment used on trucks leaving the country revealed the presence of the two men, and they were detained immediately along with the vehicle driver, pending referral to the public prosecution.
Kocabiyik was already subject to a judicial order barring him from leaving the country, issued after a lawsuit was filed against him on a charge of insulting the president, which explains his resort to this illegal method of crossing.
Kocabiyik had previously become known for videos in which he attacked Syrian refugees and criticized them for leaving their country, asking in one of them whether it befits a person to abandon his homeland, and arguing that someone of no use in his own country would be of no use in another.
