Diyarbakır Bar files a criminal complaint against pro-government daily

"We condemn racist attacks!"

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The Diyarbakır Bar Association has applied to the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and filed a criminal complaint against the pro-government daily Yeni Şafak, which targeted 15 bar associations in a news article titled "Qandil's BARons", referring to the Qandil mountains, where the camps of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are located.

The targeting news article of the daily came after the 15 bar associations of Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern and southeastern provinces condemned the recently escalating violence and racist attacks against Kurds across Turkey by releasing a joint written statement.

The Diyarbakır Bar Association has demanded an investigation against Yeni Şafak and a criminal case against the daily for its penalization.

Signed by Diyarbakır Bar Chair lawyer Nahit Eren, the petition submitted to the prosecutor's office has argued that the newspaper committed the offenses of "publicly provoking people to enmity and hatred or degrading", "hate and discrimination" and "attempted influence on fair trial."

'Its aim was to criminalize the bars'

In its petition, the Diyarbakır Bar Association has underlined that by disregarding the principle of public good and with its headline of "Qandil's BARons", Yeni Şafak newspaper tried to turn the 15 bars into a target.

Referring to the content of the related news report of the pro-government daily, the Diyarbakır Bar has noted that "the incidents were treated as ordinary judicial cases and despite the evidence in the files of pending trials, there were allegations that there were no common and ongoing racist threats and attacks against the Kurdish identity and language."

Mentioning the characteristics expected from a media outlet which has publication ethics and morality and respect for the law, democracy and human rights, the petition has underlined that such "media outlets are responsible for objectively reporting on the statements of the bar associations about the racist attacks considering that bar associations are entitled to and responsible for defending and protecting human rights, as stipulated by the Attorneys' Act."

Reiterating that the related media outlet "criminalized and targeted the bar associations with its own immoral and unethical fiction by disregarding the accounts of the aggrieved and complainants", the Diyarbakır Bar Association has stressed that the media outlet, with this news report, publicly targeted the 15 Bars and committed a hate crime under the name of reporting."

What happened?

Shortly after 15 bar associations from Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern and southeastern provinces condemned the recently escalating racist attacks against Kurds, their identity and language in Turkey, the bars were targeted by the pro-government Yeni Şafak newspaper.

In the wake of this targeting news on July 23, two days after the attacks were condemned in a joint statement, 48 bar associations across the country expressed support and solidarity with the 15 bars. (KÖ/SD)