The European Standing Rapporteur on Turkey Nacho Sanchez-Amor criticised the latest developments of Turkey against its journalists, saying, “The detention of Kurdish journalists in Turkey is yet another example of a worsening of fundamental freedoms, especially media freedom and the freedom of expression, in Turkey”, speaking to Euronews.
Journalists, NGOs and bureaucrats have reacted against the detention by police in pre-dawn raids of 11 journalists working for several Kurdish news outlets in various cities in Turkey. The European Standing Rapporteur on Turkey Nacho Sanchez-Amor evaluated the detentions as a serious situation, especially considering the critical election process ahead.
“It is still unclear whether these detentions and raids took place under the recently enacted ‘disinformation law’. If so, this would confirm the fears expressed by Turkish civil society, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and by many people in the European Parliament,” said Amor.
The International Press Institute (IPI) shared a public statement condemning the detention of 11 Kurdish journalists.
“Turkey regularly abuses anti-terror law to target journalists, who are frequently subject to arbitrary charges and imprisonment. The detentions fit a pattern of serious attacks on press freedom in Turkey,” the IPI said.
The Workers Party of Turkey (TİP) shared a tweet requesting all journalists to be released, adding that they will keep recording and writing about and talking about all crimes against the people.
The Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), the Mezopotamya Women Journalists Platform (MKGP) and the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) made a joint public statement in Diyarbakır (Amed) calling on all journalists and professional organisations to condemn the repression of Kurdish journalists and defend Turkey’s freedom of press and expression.
“Our friends were detained with physical violence and at gunpoint. They are using this operation against Kurdish journalists to try and intimidate journalists. They want to conceal the facts,” said the journalist unions.
In her column on Al-Monitor news site, journalist Amberin Zaman cited the Coalition for Women in Journalism, an advocacy group as saying that Turkey ranked first among countries detaining women journalists with 28 detained since the start of this year, followed by Russia, which has detained 20.
On 25 October, a week after the enactment of the new disinformation law, Turkish police detained 11 journalists from Kurdish outlets Mezopotamya News Agency and JINNEWS in Ankara, Istanbul and Manisa and the predominantly Kurdish cities of Mardin (Mêrdîn), Diyarbakir (Amed), Urfa (Riha) and Van (Wan).
