At least 20 Kurdish journalists, seven of them women including the manager and the editor of the Jin News agency, a Kurdish women’s news agency based in Turkey were detained after simultaneous police raids in Diyarbakır.
Twenty Kurdish journalists, seven of them women, were detained after simultaneous police raids in Diyarbakir early this week.
On June 8, at least 20 Kurdish journalists were picked up by law enforcement officials after early morning raids at their homes and offices. The names of seven women among the detained journalists are listed below.
- Safiye Alagaş, JINNEWS Manager
- Gülşen Koçuk, JINNEWS Editor
- Berivan Karatorak, Journalist
- Esmer Tunç, Journalist
- Neşe Toprak, Journalist
- Elif Üngür, Journalist
- Remziye Temel, Journalist
Police also raided the premises of local media outlet Jin News in Diyarbakır and seized books, newspapers, computers, hard drives and other digital equipment. The publication shared on social media video footage purportedly recorded after the raid. The short clip shows missing digital equipment.
Jin News is the only Turkish news agency with an all-female reporting staff. The media outlet and its employees are frequently targeted by the state for their coverage and stance on gender-based and Kurdish issues in the country. Local journalists and employees of other Kurdish media outlets in Turkey told the CFWIJ that they fear more raids and arrests.
Last week, on June 3, Dicle Müftüoğlu, co-chairperson of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association and editor of the Mesopotamia Agency (MA), was detained by the Diyarbakır Provincial Security Directorate. She had been called in for questioning after a raid at her home early that morning.
On June 7, she was produced before the chief public prosecutor, charged with “financing a terrorist organization” and released on judicially imposed conditions. The pre-text for her ordeal? She sent money to fellow journalists and inmates Nedim Türfent and Ziya Ataman.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism has published a statement in support of journalists detained in police raids: “The Coalition For Women In Journalism extends complete support to Kurdish journalists in Turkey. For questioning the government’s policies against the marginalized Kurdish community several media outlets in southeast Turkey have been systematically targeted by the authorities. Most of these news portals, largely Kurdish, have been forced shut. The CFWIJ calls for the immediate release of journalists arrested without cause. The authorities must immediately disclose the charges against them, if any. It is unacceptable for the police and legal authorities to repeatedly violate the rights of journalists and circumvent due process. We have repeatedly called out police overreaches in Turkey and the government’s apparent complicity in encroaching on press freedom.”