ANKARA - Arrested journalist Deniz Nazlım recorded that the police told him "You are not a member of a terrorist organization, give me a name and we will let you go". Imprisoned journalist Berivan Altan, on the other hand, pointed out that her professional activities are criminalized and said: "Even if you expel me from this country, I will not leave."

 

The first hearing of the trial of 12 journalists, 10 of whom were imprisoned, including Diren Yurtsever, the Editor-in-Chief of the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), continues with defenses at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court.

 

'IF I DID NOT GET MONEY, THEY WOULD SAID 'FREE''

 

Arrested MA reporter Deniz Nazlım condemned the criminalization of MA. Expressing that he receives and uses news and images from many agencies, newspapers and TV, Nazlım said: “I get paid for my hard work. If I hadn't taken it regularly, it would have said, 'You work for free'. I was listened to for 7 months, I was followed physically for 24 hours. Afterwards, I was subjected to the imposition of spying and was told, "You are not a 'member of an organization', give me a name, and we will let you go." It's good that they follow me around the clock. At least they learned very well what I was doing."

 

'EVEN IF YOU'RE FIRED FROM THIS COUNTRY'

 

Reminding that the Dedeoğulları family was attacked in Konya, they made news about it, a month after this news, the family was attacked again and 7 people lost their lives, Altan Altın said: "Semra Güzel was lynched by the press. I was asked to bow down. I had immunity while in custody. But despite this, they were done. I was subjected to torture in the same way when I was detained and arrested, and that the police wore new clothes and opened cameras before this torture. I followed the news about the massacres of Kurds and ecology. But today it is criminalized. We do journalism by getting paid, but it is said that 'they get paid but they don't do journalism'.

 

Altan shared the threat of the police and said: "Even if you expel me from this country, I will not leave. Our journalistic activities are not confidential. We are journalists and we are always in the spotlight. We can't do anything secretly, even if we wanted to."