NEWS CENTER - Oppression of media in Turkey has increased so dramatically that alone in the last five months 33 journalists were arrested, and 26 among them were sent to jails around the country.

 

Repression of media in Turkey has reached to a new level since Turkish authorities started a new wave of operations targeting journalists working in Kurdish media outlets, including our news agency, since June.

 

On 8 June, police raided homes of many Kurdish journalists and bureaus of Jin News and production companies Pel, Piya and Ari in Diyarbakir and seized all digital materials during the raids. 

 

Following the raids, 22 people were arrested, the names of which are listed as:

 

Serdar Altan, co-chair of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), Mehmet Ali Ertaş, the editor-in-chief of the Xwebûn newspaper, Safiye Alagaş, the director of Jin News, Gülşen Koçuk, an editor of Jin News, Aziz Oruç, an editor of Mesopotamia Agency, and journalists Ömer Çelik, Suat Doğuhan, Ramazan Geciken, Esmer Tunç, Neşe Toprak, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Mazlum Güler, Mehmet Şahin, Elif Üngür, İbrahim Koyuncu, Remziye Temel, Mehmet Yalçın, Abdurrahman Öncü, Lezgin Akdeniz, Kadir Bayram and citizens named Feynaz Koçuk and İhsan Ergülen.

 

JUNE: 16 JOURNALISTS JAILED

 

On June 16, a Diyarbakır court sent 16 journalists to prison pending trial on charges of “terrorism”, and released six other people with judicial control measures.

 

The prosecutor showed the interviews of the journalists, the TV programs they attended either as hosts or guests, the questions they asked to their news sources as grounds for accusations.

 

Four months have passed since the 16 journalists were sent behind bars, yet the Turkish prosecutors have not delivered an indictment.

 

FIRST TARGET AFTER DISINFORTMATION LAW

 

On October 26, a new witch-hunt like operation was given start by the Turkish prosecutors whilst the allegations that Turkey deploys chemical warfare in the military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraqi Kurdistan created a debate. 

 

Police raided the homes of journalists and bureaus of Mesopotamia Agency, Jin News and Ari Production in several cities across Turkey as part of an investigation based in Ankara. 

 

The operations came a week after Turkey's parliament adopted the “disinformation law” amid concerns over media rights and free speech.  

 

The new law proposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would see journalists and social media users jailed for up to three years for spreading "disinformation".

 

At a time when critics argued how this law was a sign that new waves of attacks against media would be expected in Turkey ahead of the country’s most critical elections, Kurdish journalists have become the first target of the Turkish judiciary. 

 

OCTOBER: 10 JOURNALISTS JAILED

 

Whilst the Turkish police has announced there is an arrest warrant for 14 people in total, 11 journalists were arrested at simultaneous raids to their homes: Diren Yurtsever, the editor-in-chief of Mesopotamia Agency, Mesopotamia Agency reporters Berivan Altan, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Hakan Yalçın, Ceylan Şahinli and Emrullah Acar, Jin News reporters Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer, and a former Mesopotamia agency intern Mehmet Günhan.

 

Ankara Police Department released video images showing the moments of arrest of two journalists and how their heads were pushed down by the officers as they were rushed to police vehicles their handcuffed.

 

Lawyers of the journalists said such mistreatment of journalists which added up to physical torture and that they will carry this to the court.

 

On October 29, an Ankara court sent 9 journalists, Diren Yurtsever, Berivan Altan, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Hakan Yalçın, Ceylan Şahinli, Emrullah Acar, Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer, to prison on charges of “terrorism”. 

 

Journalist Derya Ren was also arrested on October 26 during a house raid in Diyarbakır and sent to prison over a previous case against her resulted in prison sentence. 

 

The prosecutor asked journalists about the content of their news reports, journalists told their lawyers on their first visit.

 

Zemo Aggoz, mother to a new born, was released with house-arrest and Mehmet Gunhan was released with judiciary control measures.