Journalists from Kurdish outlets women-led Jin News and Mesopotamya Agency (MA), have been sentenced to 6 years and 3 months behind bars in Turkey, charged on “baseless claims of terrorism”, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported.
“Turkish authorities charged a group of Kurdish journalists with membership in a terrorist organisation while presenting no solid evidence to back their accusations and yet somehow found eight of them guilty,” Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative, said.
The eight were found guilty of membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish freedom movement outlawed by Turkey. Those convicted included MA editor Diren Yurtsever, MA reporters Berivan Altan, Deniz Nazlım, Emrullah Acar, Hakan Yalçın, Selman Güzelyüz, Zemo Ağgöz and freelance reporter Öznur Değer. Ümmü Habibe Eren, Ceylan Şahinli and Mehmet Günhan were acquitted.
Dawn raids on a newsroom and the journalists’ homes, by Turkish police across several cities in October 2022, led to the arrest of the 11 journalists, part of an investigation launched by Ankara chief prosecutor’s office. The arrests occurred one week after the enactment of a controversial disinformation law, widely condemned as a ‘censorship bill’.
The arrests also followed mass raids earlier in the year as part of a clampdown on opposition reporting during the country’s Presidential elections.
OBC Transeuropa along with 26 other international media freedom and human rights organisations, have condemned the arrest of Kurdish journalists in Turkey. The republic scores 158th out of 180 countries for press freedom rankings by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
RSF Turkey representative Erol Önderoglu has called for an end to “politically motivated detentions”, amid international and domestic backlash at worsening media freedom and freedom of expression in the country.
