Detained journalist 'waited for hours to breastfeed newborn baby'

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Yesterday (October 25), eleven journalists working for two pro-Kurdish news outlets, Mezopotamya Agency and JINNEWS, were detained in raids across five cities in "terrorism-related" investigations.

One of the detained journalists is Zemo Ağgöz, who works for the Mezopotamya Agency (MA).

Cemal Yiğitsoy the spouse of Zemo Ağgöz, said while on his way to work yesterday morning, he heard that 10 police officers were coming to search their house, so he returned home. The police did not maltreat them and did not put them in handcuffs, he said.

In the raid carried out at 06.25 in the morning, digital devices such as computers, tablets and phones in Ağgöz's house were confiscated. During the search, their one-and-a-half-month-old baby and Zemo Ağgöz's mother were also at home.

The situation, however, had a significant effect on their recently born baby, Yiğitsoy explained. "The baby didn't sleep all day yesterday. Also, a 48-day-old baby needs to be breastfed every 2 hours, but Zemo was able to breastfeed the baby six hours later ... The distance between our house and the police station is very long, we live far from the center of Ankara."

The husband fears the baby cannot bond with the mother, as the baby must be breastfed at the police station, which is 45 minutes from their house.

Reactions to the detentions

The Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) denounced the detention in a statement on Twitter.

"In the days when the censorship law came into effect, many journalists' homes were raided and detained during dawn raids," it said, referring to a recently adopted law to "combat disinformation," which has drawn strong criticism from journalism groups.

"Lawyer restrictions have been imposed on our colleagues whose offices were also searched. You will not be able to criminalize journalism with these practices!"

The 11 journalists were detained on "terror" charges in what was the second mass detention of Kurdish journalists in four months.

The International Press Institute (IPI) also condemned the detention of the journalists. The institute stated that Türkiye regularly abuses anti-terror laws to target journalists and the detentions fit a pattern of severe attacks on press freedom in the country.

Sixteen Kurdish journalists and media workers who were detained during raids in June have been remanded in custody on "terror" charges since then.

According to a recent rapport by Freedom House, a US-based watchdog organization for democracy, Türkiye's internet freedom score dropped to 32/100, giving the country the status 'not free' for internet freedom. Türkiye was "the sixth worst jailer of journalists" in 2021, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). (AÖ/WM/VK)