Journalist MP candidates react to colleagues being arrested in Diyarbakır

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Journalists Beritan Canözer, Abdurrahman Gök, Mehmetşah Oruç, and Remzi Akkaya who were among the 128 people detained in the Diyarbakır centered police operation carried out in 21 provinces were arrested by the court they were taken to yesterday.

bianet talked to Hasan Cemal, Cengiz Çandar, Umur Talu, and İrfan Değirmenci, four journalist parliamentary candidates in the May 14 elections about the police raids to and arrests of journalists only 17 days left to the elections.

Çandar and Cemal are two journalists running under the Green Left Party (YSP) while Talu and Değirmenci are competing under the Worker's Party of Turkey (TİP) lists in the May 14 elections.

Çandar, Cemal, Talu, and Değirmenci all believe that the arrest of journalists results from "the growing fear of Erdoğan as the elections near."

Cemal: A sign of Erdoğan's fear

Hasan Cemal who is a candidate for MP in the 2nd electoral district on third rank in the YSP list described arresting of the four journalists as "Never ending anti-liberalism of Erdoğan."

"All this oppression, detentions, and arrests show how far Erdoğan fears the ballot boxes, the votes of the people. He turns up the pressure resulting from this fear. He will arrest journalists, the journalists will not be able to report, and he will be able to keep a large mass of people in the dark; he hopes to win the elections this way," he added.

Cemal also said, "They are committing new crimes every day against the people in this country which they turned into a prison for the intellectuals and the journalists. I condemn these arrests, and everybody has to cast their votes against Erdoğan in order for all of this to end on May 14."

Çandar: Effort to silence the Kurdish people

Cengiz Çandar, who is a candidate for MP in Diyarbakır on third rank in the YSP list, described arresting of the journalists as "an effort to silence the Kurdish people."

Çandar said, "I see these arrests as a heavy attack against both freedom of the press and the people of the region which I hope I will be representing, as an MP.

"Where there are only two weeks left to the elections, the journalists are being arrested with charges that should no longer be used. Our colleagues who are now arrested are journalists who have reported very important events until now, and who have shown of this regime's lies. Arresting the journalists who are the voice of the Kurdish people is an effort to silence the Kurdish people. We will be calling all those involved to account for all these violations after the elections.

Talu: The same excuse since a quarter century

Umur Talu who is running for MP in the 3rd electoral district of İstanbul in the TİP list on third rank stated that the right of the people to information was being attacked, just before the elections.

"The journalists who have been taken into custody with many others, four of whom were arrested are our colleagues. Linking journalism with terror is one of the never-changing things that we always see in this era that all they have a problem with are labeled as "terrorists." The pro-government media of this government period has taken this over from the previous periods but worsened it.

"We hear since a quarter of a century in this country the same thing: 'They are not in prison because of journalism activities.' We will continue to defend freedom of the press, rights, and freedoms of the journalists, and the right of the people to information."

Değirmenci: We won't wake up to this Turkey on May 15

İrfan Değirmenci, who is a candidate for MP in the 2nd electoral district of İzmir on the first rank said, "They want to threaten all before the elections."

"As long as we stand side by side, as long as we broaden the anti-fascist front, maybe they will increase such pressure even further when there is so little time left until the elections, but we will not wake up to this Turkey in the morning on May 15.

"Our candidate for MP and our friends in the central board of the party were also detained today when they were holding a press briefing in Mersin against the nuclear power station; and released later. The people are detained, arrested because of using their constitutional rights, because of their journalism activities, but we will strengthen our struggle," Değirmenci concluded.

(RT/PE)