The Yeni Özgür Politika newspaper has released a written statement on Tuesday’s mass arrests in which a number, thought to be around 15-20, of journalists, writers, poets and cartoonists were detained in Turkey.
The statement cited Tuesday’s announcement by Turkey’s Interior Ministry that among the charges against the media workers arrested were those based on their professional relations with the newspaper Yeni Özgür Politika and the monthly ideas and culture magazine PolitikArt. It also cited a court ruling that spoke of the same publications as being ‘published under the guidance of the PKK/KCK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party/Kurdistan Communities Union] terrorist organisation’ in Germany and Turkey, and funded by an individual operating in both countries. “We completely reject the description, the definition, and the way professional activities have been transformed into [grounds for] accusations,” the statement said.
The Yeni Özgür Politika statement made the following points (translation lighly edited for clarity):
“* Yeni Özgür Politika and PolitikArt have been based in Germany and published all over Europe in Turkish and in Kurdish since 2016. They were established according to German law. The content of the publication, its capital structure and financial movements are also subject to full legal supervision. In addition to its legal obligations, they maintain publication policies that adhere to universal journalistic principles and legal, humanitarian and moral norms. They are not under the direction of any [other] organisation, including those mentioned, but publish only in the service of its people and of the truth.
* Hundreds of people have worked for Yeni Özgür Politika and PolitikArt to date; they have written news articles and columns and drawn cartoons. All of their relationships and communications with their creators, including remuneration, are both legal and legitimate. In this context, journalists and writers from Turkey have worked and continue to work under contract, and as such, royalties for their news and articles are sent through banks from Germany to their accounts in Turkey, all of which are registered.
* As Yeni Özgür Politika and PolitikArt, we reiterate our rejection of the accusations against our corporate identity by the Turkish judicial authorities which are pursuing the investigation in question, and the inclusion of journalists who are conducting their profession in working with us, in those accusations. We call on the Turkish Interior and Justice Ministry and the judiciary to abandon their baseless accusations. We call for an end to the censorship, detentions and arrests. And we want it to be known that we stand in solidarity with the journalists, writers, poets and translators who have been arrested.”
