*updated at 3:26 (CET)
“In the last 10 months, 30 of our colleagues have been arrested in operations against Kurdish journalists. Dozens of our colleagues have been taken into custody,” the Dicle-Fırat Journalists Association said in a statement after Saturday’s arrests.
“We know that this operation is a continuation of those that target the freedom of expression, the freedom of information, the free press and aim to silence Kurdish journalists. Of course those operation carried out days before the most critical elections in the country’s history can have no other name than election operations,” it said.
Many on social media protested the arrests by sharing a recording of Mezopotamya news editor Yılmaz, in which he talks about the crucial role Kurdish journalists play in enlightening the public.
“If we did not exist, you would think all those who died in Roboski were terrorists,” Yılmaz says in the recording, referring to an incident in 2011 when the Turkish military killed 34 Kurds in airstrikes. Most of the victims were children between ages 13 and 18, who were smuggling cheap gas and cigarettes from northern Iraq to Turkey’s southeastern province of Şırnak (Şırnex).
“You would have never known about the attempt to torture all villagers in Şapatan,” Yılmaz continues in the recording, this time citing a 2017 operation in the southeastern province of Hakkari (Colemêrg). Some 100 villagers were tortured by members of the police’s special forces according to local media reports.
“You would probably never know the names of two villagers pushed out of a helicopter in Van (Wan),” Yılmaz also says.
Medya News shared a recent article of Yılmaz last week, in which he explained how constantly changing the laws over regulating press cards were being used against Kurdish journalists since 2018.
The union of journalists and media workers, Basın-İş, operating under the Confederation of Progressive Unions of Turkey (DİSK) also tied this week’s operations to 14 May elections. The union’s representative in southeast Turkey told Mezopotamya that journalists under custody have also been questioned about their ties to Basın-İş.
“We need to grow those statements and reactions both in Turkey and in the international arena to prevent the boldness of this government. The oppression imposed on Kurdish provinces is usually not seen in Turkish provinces. We should think about ways of making this visible, try to think humanely. The pressure imposed on Kurdish journalists today, maybe will try to be imposed on socialists tomorrow and on all Turkey in the future,” he said.
The Turkish police raided dozens of homes in different cities on Saturday morning in a new wave of crackdowns against Kurdish journalists, Mezopotamya News Agency reported.
In relation to an investigation launched in the Turkish capital of Ankara, a simultaneous operation has been carried out in 15 provinces to arrest 54 suspects, Demirören News Agency reported.
Dicle Müftüoğlu, the co-chair of the Dicle-Fırat Journalists Association, was taken into custody in the Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır (Amed).
Sedat Yılmaz, an editor for Mezopotamya, and his wife were also detained in Diyarbakır. The police detained Yılmaz’s sister in Istanbul.
Some 28 people, including four journalists, were arrested by a court this week, following Tuesday’s police operation launched in 21 different provinces. A total number of 128 people were taken into custody, including lawyers who were taking part in polling security preparations, as well as Kurdish politicians and members of several civil society organisations.
While pro-Kurdish politicians condemned the new wave of crackdowns, calling them operations designed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to undermine the electoral process, other opposition parties have so far remained silent.
“If we do not forestall them, the operations will continue,” said Berlin Polat, a parliamentary candidate of the Green Left Party on Saturday.
Turkey’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is fielding its candidates under the Green Left Party lists for 14 May elections, to minimise the risks of a possible attempt to shut down the pro-Kurdish party ahead of the polls.
