Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır deputy Sibel Yiğitalp asked the Minister of the Interior, Selami Altınok,a parliamentary question for police raid against Dicle news Agency (DİHA), Aram Publishing House, Azadiya Welat and Kurdi-Der in Diyarbakır province in southeastern Turkey. Yiğitalp also asked about the plans about improving the freedom of press in Turkey.
“Who are the policemen that obstructed press members?”
* Who are the special operation team that battered free media members? Has an investigation been launched against them?
“What is the legal basis for the detentions?
* What is the legal basis for saying to press members ‘We are security forces. We can do anything against people who have reasonable doubt.’
* What is the legal basis for unlawfully keeping waiting 32 free press members for seven hours in a state hospital for medical checkup after the detention?
* What is the legal basis for blocking the access to DİHA’s website for 21 times by Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication (TİB) and for preventing it from publishing news, images and photos?
“What is the reason of searching media members for gunshot residue?
* What is the aim of the state’s security forces to ask detained free media members 'Have you fired guns today?'
* What is the legal basis for searching detained free media members for ‘gunshot residue’?
“Do you have plans to improve the freedom of press?
* Is it a coincidence for this unlawful police raid to be made at the same time when Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said ‘Press is free in Turkey’?
* According to the report of Reporters Without Borders ‘2015 World Press Freedom Index’; Turkey is 149th among 180 countries. Do you have any plans to improve the freedom of press? (BK/BD)
* Photo Credit: Beyza Kural, bia, İstanbul. From the press statement against the police raid in front of DİHA’s building in İstanbul on September 29.
Click here to read the article in Turkish
