A number of journalists arrested during raids in Turkey’s western province of İzmir are being accused of membership of an illegal organisation, a charge that has placed a secrecy ruling on their files, limiting access to details of their case.
The raids, which took place early Tuesday, targeted journalists associated with Mezopotamya Agency (MA), including Semra Turan, Delal Akyüz, and Tolga Güney; Melike Aydın of JİNNEWS; Cihan Başakçıoğlu of Gazete Duvar; and Fatma Funda Akbulut, a press affiliate of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party.
The group, consisting of reporters from various media outlets and a press worker, had an opportunity to meet with their legal representatives on Wednesday.
According to reports from their legal counsel, they were harshly treated during their arrest and detention, and gave descriptions of being handcuffed from behind, a practice requiring justification under Turkish law and prohibited for any length of time, and being subjected to degrading treatment by the police, including being pushed about and subjected to tight neck holds, causing physical discomfort. Their digital materials were also seized by the police during the raids.
Turkey was recently ranked the world’s ninth biggest jailer of journalists in 2023, according to the annual report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).