The arrest of Kurdish journalists following police raids in Ankara, Istanbul, Van, Diyarbakir, Urfa and Mardin mark another milestone on the path of democratic backsliding.
This week eleven Kurdish journalists were arrested in Turkey, marking another backsliding measure in media freedom. The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement to the Turkish authorities stating that they should “immediately release the Kurdish journalists in police custody and stop harassing them with secret investigations”.
MA Editorial Director Diren Yurtsever, MA reporters Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Zemo Ağgöz, Berivan Altan, Hakan Yalçın, Emrullah Acar and Ceylan Şahinli, and JINNEWS reporters Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer were detained during the raids.The 11th journalist in police custody was Mehmet Günhan, a former reporting intern at the MA’s Ankara newsroom, who was apprehended in the western city of Manisa.
As part of the investigation, the residences of JINNEWS and Mesopotamia Agency correspondents were raided. Numerous digital materials and documents in the raided offices were confiscated by the police. The police confiscated several cameras, computers, and other equipment while detaining the journalists. In Öznur Değer’s case, it was underlined that during the raid to her family’s house, the police broke the door and insulted family members by pointing a gun.
Police Links Journalistic Activities to Public Order Events
The statement made by the police underlined that the journalists aimed to raise:”social tension through ethnic sensitivities by taking advantage of public order events..”
They further underlined: “They focused on propaganda activities in the past days, in this way, they tried to create widespread violent street events such as the Gezi Park events or the Kobani events…”