Arrested Kurdish journalist Dicle Müftüoğlu called for solidarity for 18 journalists and media workers who will face a judge next week in Turkey’s southeastern Kurdish majority Diyarbakır (Amed) province.
“We must see that what they want to put on trial is the profession of journalism as a whole, not these 18 colleagues alone,” said the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) co-chair in a letter she wrote from her prison cell in capital Ankara.
The journalists working for Kurdish outlets are facing charges of membership in a terrorist organisation, which holds up to 15 years in prison. Their hearing will be held on 11 July.
Müftüoğlu herself was arrested in a separate raid against journalists and was sent to prison in May.
Freedom of expression continues to deteriorate in Turkey, the co-chair said. “Media organs have been rendered dysfunctional with convictions, censorship and access bans,” she continued. “The censorship act that passed into law last year exacerbated the situation, or rather, provided cover for the government’s practices as they try to axe journalism as a profession with every step they take in the judiciary and security forces.”
Twenty journalists were arrested in June last year, and while several were released, 16 were sent to prison to await trial, Müftüoğlu said. In next week’s hearing, a total of 18 journalists “will put on trial the ideology that attempts to persecute journalism”, she added.
“From the prison I have been in for the last two months, I am issuing an open call for all my colleagues and the democratic public. Let us raise our voice together to uphold the dignity of journalism,” she concluded.
