"Free press cannot be silenced"
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Following the arrest of daily Yeni Yaşam Editor-in-Chief Ferhat Çelik and Managing Editor Aydın Keser and Yeni Çağ columnist Murat Ağırel yesterday (March 8), a press statement was held at the İstanbul Branch of Human Rights Association (İHD) in Beyoğlu today.
While the workers of the daily have called on everyone to solidarize with the arrested journalists amid recently escalating pressure on journalists, the statement was also attended by Evrensel newspaper Editor-in-Chief Fatih Polat, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs Züleyha Gülüm and Ahmet Şık, Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) Chair Gökhan Durmuş and Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) Spokesperson İdil Uğurlu.
Reading out the statement for the press, Yeni Yaşam newspaper editor Zana Bilir Kaya has indicated that the journalists were arrested over a news report about a National Intelligence Organization (MİT) officer who lost his life in Libya, underlining that the information in question is not confidential from the perspective of the public.
'It is not that a state secret was disclosed'
Kaya has also stressed that before Yeni Yaşam reported the news, it was mentioned at the Parliament and reported by a series of media outlets, thereby becoming a public issue. Kaya has briefly stated the following:
"It is not that case that a state secret was disclosed there. Besides, the news of our newspaper did not even mention that the person in question was a member of the MİT. Moreover, when our friends were released on probation on March 5, 2020, one of the reasons put forward by the court for the release was that the report had no open information about the MİT membership.
"However, despite all these, the court on duty has arrested our friends under the pretext that 'they disclosed the MİT members.' Releasing a person first, then getting him or her arrested by a 'selected court' upon the objection of a prosecutor's office has become almost a tradition now. We know that weird things have been going on in Çağlayan for three days.
"Those who try to intimidate our friends working in different positions at our newspaper should know it very well: It is not possible to divert them from their paths or to intimidate our friends who will replace them.
"We - as Yeni Yaşam newspaper - do and will move on our path with our heads high. This arrest order will remain as a stain on their part, not ours. We are - once again - calling on our all readers to stand shoulder to shoulder with our newspaper. On this occasion, we are making a call for solidarity to all professional journalism organizations and unions as well as all journalists who do their jobs honestly and are determined to do so. Let us keep it in mind: Solidarity keeps one alive, journalism is not a crime."
Polat: Arrests and detentions are political
Yeni Yaşam columnist Ender Öndeş has also underlined that the verdicts of arrest can in no way be explained with law:
"Yesterday was a shocking day. At the current stage, these incidents can no longer be explained with law. But we will keep on doing our job. The worse things go for the government, the more the operations to silence the press will continue. The only thing that we will do is to raise solidarity."
Evrensel newspaper Editor-in-Chief Fatih Polat has also said, "It is the government that decides for a war, but it is the journalists who pay the price. Bowing is not an option for the ones who do their jobs well in this country. There is a need for a strong solidarity. The detentions and arrests cannot be explained with the law, but only with politics."
Durmuş: 28 journalists taken in 10 days
TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş has reminded the audience that 28 journalists have been detained and eight journalists have been arrested over the past 10 days: "Journalists who report on the collapsing foreign policy of Turkey and the plight of refugees are targeted. There is an attempt to cover up the truths. Arrests openly manifest that some things are tried to be hidden. We will keep on getting the truths to the public."
While HDP MP Züleyha Gülüm has underlined that the recent wave of pressure is not new, but one or more journalists are detained or arrested everyday, HDP MP Ahmet Şık has stressed that the pressures targeting journalists have become a routine in Turkey, adding that the MİT personnel who lost his life in Libya is newsworthy all across the world. (HA/SD)
