ANKARA - Being battered and detained before making a statement for their imprisoned colleagues, journalists said: “The press and media outlets definitely need to come together and close ranks around the truth.”

 

Police attacked the statement that the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform (MKGP) wanted to make on July 5th in Ankara's Ulus Square for 16 journalists arrested in Diyarbakır. In the attack, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) Ankara reporter Deniz Nazlım, journalists Sibel Yükler and Yıldız Tar were battered and detained.

 

Journalists evaluated the police attack on our agency for the statement they wanted to make to protest the arrest of their colleagues.

 

'16 OF OUR COLLEAGUES ARE UNLAWFULLY ARRESTED'

 

Describing the attack they suffered in Ulus Square,  Journalist Deniz Nazlım said: "The police stated that 16 of our journalist friends are 'convicted' and they will not allow our statement. We said that our friends who were arrested were not convicted, that even if they are convicted, it would not constitude a legal problem, and they are detained pre-trial. But the police said that it doesn't matter whether they are under arrest or convicted and the police did not allow the press release. The attack on us cannot be explained by the constitution or law. Law is ignored in Turkey and the decisions are taken with orders from top executives."

 

‘POLICE STATE IS INSTITUTIONALISED’

 

Stating that they insistently reminded the police about their constitutional rights during the police blockade, Nazlım said: "The police said that there is no Constitution and we were battered and detained. There is currently an institutionalization of the police state in Turkey. The essential feature of fascism is violence against truth, fascism only uses violence. For this reason, 16 journalists from the free press were arrested. That's why our cameras were displayed as criminal elements. They use violence because what we write is the truth."

 

'VIOLENCE CONTINUED ALL DAY'

 

Pointing out that the police violence did not end all day long, Nazlım reminded that journalists Emel Vural, Berivan Kutlu and Aslı Alpar also faced police violence during the police attack in Kuğulu Park. Regarding what he went through in the Ankara Police Department Security Branch, Nazlım said: “There was an argument between our attorneys and the police. The police said that they would not include the attorney's statements in the minutes. The attorneys said that they would add an annotation to the minutes that their statements were not included. But the  police said that they will not allow that either. The police cited the circular sent by the Ministry of Interior 10 days ago as the reason.”

 

‘WE WATCHED THE DISSENTION OF THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND THE PROSECUTOR'

 

Noting that they learned that there was a discussion about the Ministry of Interior circular from the conversations at the security branch, Nazlım said: “About a week ago, attorneys held a meeting with the public prosecutors. The agenda of the meeting was the circular sent by the Ministry of Interior. Prosecutors stated that they would definitely not accept this circular, and that the circular was delimitated by the Ministry of Interior. Attorneys conveyed this meeting to the police in the security branch. However, they indicated that there are 'clear instructions and they cannot go out of this circular'. We witnessed the dissention between the chief prosecutor and the Minister of Interior in those corridors. This was an important situation. We said that we do not have as much knowledge of the legislation as our attorneys, that we could not convey our demands and that our right to defense was violated. The police officers who signed the report said that they "approved to the crime, the violation of rights, and the restriction of the right of defense" because they signed this report. However, the police in charge did not allow the attorneys' requests.”

 

'POLICE OFFICERS WERE MOTIVATED TO ATTACK PEOPLE IN KUĞULU PARK AT THE POLICE STATION'

 

Nazlım said: “Police were preparing to go to Kuğulu Park to attack, swearing to the people there. The three of us, as journalists saw how they prepared themselves to attack the protesters at the Pride Parade. The violence that started on the 5th of July in our press release, continued at the police station and then in Kuğulu Park. We witnessed micro-fascism at the police station."

 

'FREE PRESS IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT IS ATTACKED'

 

Underlining that the attack is not only against the free press in Turkey, there is an all out attack on people all over Turkey in general, Nazlım reminded that the violence against the press, the violations and restrictions peaked during the last 10 years. Nazlım said: “There are now three types of media in Turkey. First one is the media of the government. It is based on lies and disinformation. The second is the media that defines itself as dissidents. But they feel free to define the free press workers as 'terrorists' just like the pro-government media, or remain silent when they are arrested. Then there are the media outlets like us and our friends that tell the truth, uphold no principles other than the benefit of the society, never allow manipulation and disinformation, and reject the relationship of media ownership. Media outlets definitely need to come together immediately and close ranks around the truth. These media outlet needs to protect all imprisoned journalists. The media needs to express all the pressures on the media, make it visible, and advocate for it. It has to continue its struggle to protect the truth, to convey the truth to the society, to convey the information to the society."

 

'WE WERE BATTERED DURING A PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION, ALLOWED BY THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE'

 

One of the journalists detained that day, Sibel Yükler said: "We went to Ulus Square to protest the censorship law two weeks ago and the police allowed the demonstration. But when we went there to make press release for 16 imprisoned journalists, the police attacked us. We were detained in Ulus Square, which is the legal area to demonstrate. We saw that the police attacked our  friends even before they entered the area. We were trying to protect our friends from the police. They started to push the journalists down the stairs. I saw that they battered Yıldız Tar, who went there with me. When I saw that Yıldız was being battered, I took them under protection and said they can't touch my friend, they are a journalist. While trying to protect my friend,  the police started to batter me as well.”

 

'WE WERE BATTERED, WE WERE DRAGGED ON THE STREET'

 

Describing what she went through with journalist Tar during her detention, Yükler said: “We were battered and dragged on the street. While they handcuffed us behind the back, they harassed Yıldız. Although we said that we were journalists, we were  handcuffed and battered. Then we were quickly removed from the area and sent to the detention vehicle. Deniz Nazlım was also subjected to violence while trying to prevent the detention of many of our journalist friends there. This is how we were detained. We defended our professional honor there. We were there to raise our voices not only for our 16 friends who were arrested, but also for all our friends who were previously arrested from Mesopotamia, from Jinnews. We were going to tell that doing our jobs could not be a crime.”

 

'JOURNALISTS WERE TORTURED'

 

Continuing to speak out against both torture and arrests, Yükler said: "The topics discussed in the television programs in question, which our friends were arrested for are discussed by the journalists in Ankara as well, but those in Diyarbakır are arrested for it. They do anything they want regardless of the law. When the Kurdish journalists were taken into custody,we told that this will happen to everyone if we do not take action. Now everyone is targeted by the one man that does whatever he wants. This shows what we will go through until the upcoming elections."