Detention of Kurdish journalists: Prosecutors seek arrest of Aziz Oruç, Safiye Alagaş

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Twenty-two people, including 20 journalists, who were detained during police raids in the Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakır on June 8, were referred to the courthouse yesterday (June 14).

After eight days in custody, the journalists gave statements at the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor referred Safiye Alagaş, the manager of Jinnews, and Aziz Oruç, an editor for the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), to the Penal Judgeship of Peace with a request for their arrest.

Meanwhile, members of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and the Mezopotamya Women Journalists Platform (MKGP) gathered in front of the courthouse to protest the detention of journalists.

Photo: MA

Colleagues and family members of the journalists, as well as representatives of NGOs and political parties, attended the demonstration.

Dicle Müftüoğlu, the co-chair of the DFG, said, "the free press will not buckle under as it did not in the past."

"Our friends are targeted because they do journalism and convey the truth to the public," she said, adding, "This is why homes and workplaces were raided.

"With these operations, the message that 'If you convey the truth to the people, we will target and criminalize you' is given to the journalists.  You cannot silence the free press, which you could not silence with bombings, disappearances in detention and murders."

Kadri Esen, the grant holder of the Xwebûn newspaper, said the journalists were detained for doing their job, and, even if the reason for the detentions was not disclosed, the detentions were an attack on the Kurdish language.

"They told us to hide what happened from the whole world. We don't hide. We will continue to convey what's happening in Kurdistan to the people. They want to silence the Kurdish press with these operations," said Esen.

The crowd ended the demonstration after chanting, "Free press can't be silenced."

Names of the detained journalists: DFG Co-Chair Serdar Altan, Xwebûn Managing Editor Mehmet Ali Ertaş, JİNNEWS Manager Safiye Alagaş, JINNEWS editor Gülşen Koçuk, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) editor Aziz Oruç, Ömer Çelik, Suat Doğuhan, Ramazan Geciken, Esmer Tunç, Neşe Toprak, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Mazlum Doğan Güler, Mehmet Şahin, Elif Üngür, İbrahim Koyuncu, Remziye Temel, Mehmet Yalçın, Abdurrahman Öncü, Lezgin Akdeniz, Kadir Bayram ile Feynaz Koçuk ve İhsan Ergülen. (HA/RT/VK)