DİYARBAKIR -  The lawyers of 16 journalists arrested in Diyarbakır on the allegation of "being a member of a terrorist organization" on June 16 applied to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that "the illegality of the arrest.

 

The arrest of 16 journalists, who were detained on June 8 due to the investigation carried out by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for allegedly "being a member of a terrorist organization", was brought to the Constitutional Court (AYM). In the application made by the lawyers of the journalists to the Constitutional Court, it was noted that the detention of journalists was against the law, and that  journalists working in Kurdish press organisations were arrested due to their professional activities, and this was a violation of the freedom of thought and expression and the right to security. It was underlined that the arrest of journalists aimed "to silence the journalists, to suppress pluralism and to limit the freedom of political discussion, which is at the core of the concept of a democratic society, therefore the interference is not legitimate and proportional."

 

In the application, which emphasized that there are many examples of imprisonment of journalists but the current file was the worst example of this, it was stated that journalists were accused of being "members of a terrorist organization" only because of their activities as journalists and the aim is to completely eliminate the discomfort felt by journalism and journalists.