Turkey: Arrested Kurdish Journalists Face Court over Terrorism Charges
Turkey: Arrested Kurdish Journalists Face Court over Terrorism Charges
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Published: 15 June 2022
Written by OCCRP
Journalists who were detained last week during a mass raid in the Kurdish stronghold of Diyarbakir have been taken to court on Wednesday to face terrorism charges.
The move was condemned by local and international journalist associations as a crackdown on free press as well as on Kurds.
The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that more than 20 media workers were detained in connection with TV broadcast from Belgium and the U.K. which authorities labeled as terrorist organization propaganda.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Turkish affiliates condemned the arrests and the use of terrorism charges to criminalise journalism, and urged for their immediate release.
“Turkish authorities continue to crack down on journalists, accusing them of practising terrorism. The IFJ strongly opposes these arrests and stands in solidarity with all Kurdish media workers currently in prison for doing their job,” said Anthony Bellanger, IFJ General Secretary.
“Journalism is not terrorism,” he added.
The German Journalists Association issued a unanimous statement, with chairman Frank Überall saying "that fits with Erdogan's anti-media course, with which he has been suppressing independent voices for years."
Journalists in Turkey often face prosecution for their work and those of Kurdish origin in particular.
”These raids were actually an unusual form of routine practices with which we [Kurdish journalists] are familiar with,” Sedat Yılmaz, a senior editor at the Mesapotamia News Agency, whose journalists are among those detained, told OCCRP in a phone interview.
“Usually they target individuals - but this one was a mass arrest instead,” he added.
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/16436-turkey-arrested-kurdish-journalists-face-court-over-terrorism-charges