DİYARBAKIR- Our friends held under custody sent a message and said 'We are standing tall', and called for solidarity.

 

21 people, 20 of whom are journalists including Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) Co-chair Serdar Altan, Xwebûn Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ali Ertaş, JINNEWS News Director Safiye Alagaş, JINNEWS editor Gülşen Koçuk, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) editor Aziz Oruç and Ömer Çelik were detained with raids of their homes in Diyarbakır on June 8.

 

The "restriction" decision in the journalists' file continues. Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) Co-chair Serdar Altan and JINNEWS editor Gülşen Koçuk sent messages through their lawyers.

 

'JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME'

 

In the message he sent, Altan reminded that this attack was on the free press tradition and that the government tried to hide the truth from the public by covering up the facts. In the message he sent, Altan said: "The government maintains its existence by covering up the facts and hiding the truth from the public. That's why it targets journalists and media organs. With such operations, the AKP-MHP government carries out these operations in order to hide its unlawfulness and inhumane practices from the public. The free press tradition cannot be silenced by these unlawful practices. The tradition of the free press has always told the truth and will continue to do so. Journalism is not a crime."

 

'GOVERNMENT IS SCARED OF WOMEN JOURNALISTS'

 

JINNEWS editor Gülşen Koçuk, who stated that they are not strangers to the pressures against free press, expressed the following in the message she shared: “I would like to state that we are still standing tall, even though the government and judicial authorities are attacking the tradition of free press. We draw our strength from the truth. The AKP-MHP government cannot prevent us from practicing our profession. We are journalists. Our profession cannot be determined by the government or the judiciary. They cannot decide whether we are journalists or not. Kurdish women's journalism has broken new ground. Jinnews is an influential agency engaged in women's journalism in Turkey and the Middle East. Since the day Kurdish women's journalism was organised, the government has been putting pressure on women journalists. This is one of the reasons for this operation. I would like to reiterate our belief that the work we do and the path we walk is the right path.”