Arturo Salerni, well know Italian lawyer has been stopped by Turkish police at Ataturk airport. Salerni was part of the defense lawyers who represented Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan when he arrived in Italy in 1998.

Salerni had left Rome for Turkey as part of a delegation going to Diyarbakýr to observe the trial against 151 Kurdish politicians and human rights activists arrested in 2009 in the context of the KCK (Kurdish Communities Confederation) case. It was the first time Salerni went to Turkey.

According to member of the delegation, on his arrival to Istanbul, lawyer Salerni was stopped and separated from the rest of the delegation (a total of 37 people) by police. It is understood that the Turkish authorities have said to Salerni that he was going to be sent back to Italy as "persona non grata" in Turkey.

Öcalan had been detained as soon as he arrived in Rome in 1998. He was then granted political asylum in Italy, but he had already left the country.