"Free Agenda", Free Press

About 50 journalists and intellectuals came together on Istanbul's Taksim Square on Human Rights Day on 10 December to demonstrate for press freedom and support the Özgür Gündem ('Free Agenda') newspaper.

The protestors sold copies of the Özgür Güdem newspaper to people on the street. They demanded to give an end to an oppressive mindset carried out against all sorts of freedom of opinion and expression. They announced that they would always resist against this attitude.

The demonstrators called for the immediate release of Özgür Gündem writer Cengiz Kapmaz who was taken into custody and is still being detained and of the numerous other journalists in prison.

Lawyer Neslihan Tezel told bianet during the protest, "We raised our voices for Ahment Şık and Nedim Şener and now we also have to speak up for Özgür Gündem and Kurdish journalists".

"There is one type of newspaper created upon the preferences of the government of the Turkish Republic", protestor Faruk Arhan said and continued, "The Özgür Gündem newspaper stood against this preference. They experience a lot of pressure because they write what the government does not want to be written".

Journalist Murat Çelikkan emphasized, "Today is the Human Rights Day. Oppression and injustice was imposed to us too. We are supporting Özgür Gündem today for our friends in prison and for press freedom. Carefully watching the recent events we can see a turn directly back to the 1990s. 17 years ago, the Özgür Gündem newspaper was bombed and received various threats. These situations do not exist in a democratically lead country. We came together to remind this and to draw attention to this sensitive matter".

Journalist Kumru Başer who was the last in the row of speakers announced, "Özgür Gündem is one of the newspapers in Turkey that were exposed to the biggest oppression. You do not have to claim their ideas and opinions in order to care about Özgür Gündem. Caring about Özgür Gündem means to care about press freedom and freedom of expression. The action done today is an action for honourable journalism".

The office of the Gündem newspaper in Istanbul was bombed in 1994. However, the paper carried on with its stance and kept on publishing. Also after the bomb attack, a group of journalists and intellectuals sold copies of Özgür Gündem on Taksim Square in support of the daily.

The Saturday protest action was attended by Prof Esra Arsan, TV journalist Merdan Yanardağ, journalist Ayşe Düzkan, İbrahim Aydın, Ali Şimşek, writer Meriç Şenyüz, journalists Ayça Söylemez, İsmail Saymaz, Süleyman Arıoğlu, Hüseyin Tahmaz, Erdinç Ergenç, Yetvart Danzikyan, Emel Soy, İnci Hekimoğlu, Murat Çelikkan, Kumru Başer, Faruk Arhan, Neslihan Tezel, İnci Hekimoğlu, Onur Erem, Funda Şirinkal, Efkan Bolaç and others. (SM/AS/VK)