DİYARBAKIR - Reacting to the detention of journalist Emrullah Acar and the search carried out at Hikmet Tunç's house, the DFG said, "Stop the raids against journalists."

 

Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) issued a written statement regarding the search made in the house of our reporter Emrullah Acar  who were detained in Urfa in a raid in the morning and Jinnews reporter Hikmet Tunç.

 

PRESSURE ON JOURNALIST INCREASED

 

Stating that the pressures on journalists and journalism did not stop, the statement said, “Every day, a journalist's house is raided and they are detained for flimsy reasons. Journalists are prevented from doing their jobs with such threats. At a time when the right of press members to report, freedom of thought and expression are discussed in detail, and dozens of institutions prepare and submit reports on these issues every month, it is regrettable that one more journalist is added to this list every day.

 

HOUSE OF JOURNALIST STORMED

 

In the statement that pointed out that JinNews Van reporter Hikmet Tunç's house was raided by the plainclothes police and gendarmerie, who claimed there was a bomb, yesterday evening, it was pointed out that they wanted to both target journalists and prevent them from doing their jobs on such baseless accusations. In the statement, which said, "Searching for equipment other than news materials in a journalist's house cannot be explained by any other reason," it was stated that they did not find any "criminal elements" in the house during the search, and it was proven in their own reports.

 

SERVES THE SAME PURPOSE

 

In the statement, it was stated that a raid was carried out on the home of Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reporter Emrullah Acar as part of an investigation carried out by the Malatya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Urfa this morning. In the house raid, the computer and memory card of journalist Acar were confiscated. It is clear that this pressure also serves the purpose we mentioned above.”

 

JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME

 

The statement, which said, “The effort to criminalize journalists is an approach that has been tried by the governments for decades, but with no results”, continued as follows: “We are clearly sure of this; Those who raided the house of our friend Hikmet Tunç knew very well that there was no bomb or any ammunition in that house. Again, those who detained Emrullah Acar know better than anyone that he has no other activities other than journalism. The only purpose here is to criminalize the journalist and to stop them from doing their job. As the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, we want the house raids, detentions and arrests of journalists to end, and we would like to state once again that we do not accept these practices. We, the journalists, would like to state that we do not accept these practices and we are not afraid of these attacks against journalism. And again, we would like to remind you that; journalism is an honorable profession that defends the public's right to recieve news, so journalism is not a crime!”