Gündem Newspaper Closed for Fifteen Days

A Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul has decided to close the "Gündem" newspaper for fifteen days. Cause for the closure was an article published on 12 July in issued 132, entitled: "The Batman Message: Stand By the Guerrillas".

The newspaper has been closed for 30 and 15 days before and has now been closed for "spreading PKK propaganda in a call for violence". Friday's issue (13 July) of the newspaper was confiscated.

Gündem's Editor-in-chief Yuksel Genc argued that the closure was a violation of the freedom of the press. He said that the newspaper has continually been targeted, but that the last two months seemed more normal. "We find it meaningful that our newspaper is closed in the week running up to the elections," he said. "It becomes clear once again that in such a time, Kurds are silenced."

Pre-election interviews

In the article, journalist Cengiz Kapmaz had been evaluating the pre-election period in Batman, a province in the south-east of Turkey. One worker who he spoke to had said:

"The people's expectations of the [pro-Kurdish] independent candidates are very clear. The people are sending them to parliament not in order to support PKK terrorism, but to support the people's children who are struggling for their rights. They must not forget that. Those who call [PKK leader] Abdullah Öcalan "honourable" whenever they mention him, we expect to attend the funerals of the people's children who are killed." (EÖ/EÜ/AG)