İHA reporter Mustafa Uslu attacked in Kocaeli

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Filming and reporting on the demolition works at the farm of İYİ Party Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Lütfü Türkkan in Dilova district in Kocaeli province, İhlas News Agency (İHA) reporter Mustafa Uslu was attacked by four people, who were allegedly the workers of the farm.

Severely battered, Mustafa Uslu was taken to a hospital by paramedic teams in an ambulance. Having broken Uslu's camera and equipment as well, the four assaulters have been taken into custody.

'They attacked before I could ever understand'

Uslu talked about the attack in the following words:

"I was going to fly a drone, I was making my preparations. All of a sudden, four people came to me and started attacking. I could not even understand what happened. They started to attack immediately.

"They shattered the drone and threw the camera on the ground. They kicked me on the ground. My face started to bleed because of these blows. I did not fight back. I lied on the ground and they kept on kicking. Then, they were gone. We are here to do our job. We are constantly facing such actions, but it needs to stop now. I don't know how they find this courage."

TGC has condemned the attack

The Journalists' Association of Turkey (TGC) has condemned the attack by releasing a written statement about the incident.

"In this difficult period that Turkey has been going through, there are attempts to prevent journalists from performing their profession with different methods," the TGC has said. Sharing details about the attack, the Association has extended its get-well-soon wishes to Uslu.

"We want the assaulters to be punished in the way they deserve. It is impossible to talk about democracy in a society where there is no press freedom. We once again share with the public that social peace cannot be established in an environment where journalists are constantly targeted and subjected to violence, as in the case of the last example," the TGC has said.

12th attack in 6 months

In the first six months of 2021, 12 journalists were attacked in Turkey. While 18 journalists were attacked in 2020, 139 journalists were attacked in the last five years. In addition to Mustafa Uslu, the other 11 journalists who have been attacked in 2021 are as follows:

İbrahim Akkuş: Yeniçağ Newspaper Samsun reporter. He was attacked by the employees of the contractor which undertook the construction of a public hospital in 19 Mayıs, Samsun after he had reported on the deficiencies of the hospital. June 21, 2021 | Samsun

Ahmet Atmaca: Demirören News Agency (DHA) reporter. After a person had been stabbed to death in Antep province, he went to the Forensic Medicine Institution to follow up the incident. He was attacked by the relatives of the deceased there. June 10, 2021 | Antep

Hüseyin Arif Çakmak: The Editor-in-Chief of İstiklal newspaper. He was targeted in an armed attack by a person who came to the newspaper's central office in Zeytinburnu. The assaulter fled the scene of the incident; he was later caught by the police. May 12, 2021 | İstanbul

Hazım Özsu: He was a radio presenter in a local station. He was attacked by Halil N. from his audience who had been following his program for a year. Özsu died at the scene of the incident. March 15 | Bursa

Levent Gültekin: He was attacked on his way to the "İki Yorum" (Two Comments) program that he presented. March 8, 2021 | İstanbul

Ferruh Varanoğlu: Columnist. He was shot in his foot in an armed attack carried out by an unidentified person. February 16, 2021 | Bursa

İzzet Tınmaz: The grant holder of İlk Havadis (First News) and news coordinator of Anadolu'nun Sesi (Voice of Anatolia). Two people stopped his car on his way to work and beat him with sticks. January 9, 2021 | Aksaray

Kıymet Sarıyıldız and Murat Uçkaç: Hedef (Target) newspaper and İhlas News Agency (İHA) reporters. They were battered by the relatives of a suspect arrested for drug dealing while he was taken from the courthouse. January 13, 2021 | Aydın

Afşin Hatipoğlu: KRT TV program presenter. He was attacked by a group of unidentified persons wearing masks in front of his house. | January 14, 2021

Orhan Uğuroğlu: Ankara representative of Yeniçağ newspaper. While he was about to get in his car in the morning, four people attacked him with sticks. He was wounded in his arm. January 15, 2021 | Ankara (KÖ/SD)