bianet Kurdish editor Aren Yıldırım released after two days in detention

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bianet Kurdish editor Aren Yıldırm was released early today (March 17) after two days in detention.

Kept at the İstanbul Security Directorate for two days, Yıldırım was referred to the İstanbul Courthouse early in the morning. The prosecutor's office ordered his release after taking his statement. No judicial control measures were imposed on Yıldırım.

"All questions were about his journalism"

All the questions the prosecutors asked Yıldırım were about his journalism, Emrah Baran, his lawyer, told bianet.

His phone calls had been tapped as part of an investigation opened against Yıldırım in 2020, said the lawyer. "In today's interrogation, he was asked about his tapped conversations. The content of the conversations was his discussions with bianet employees and managers about news.

"He was asked about his conversations and discussions during the making of the news, and we expressed that the conversations were within journalistic activities. For example, they asked about a report regarding a family's application to the Constitutional Court over a right violation."

Yıldırım was detained in a police raid on his apartment at around 6 a.m. on March 15.

A linguist, translator and journalist, Yıldırm has been working for bianet since 2019. (AS/VK)