Sixty-seven journalists killed in 113 years in Turkey

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Today is the Day of Killed Journalists.

It has been 113 years since Hasan Fehmi, the first casualty of journalism in Turkey, was murdered on İstanbul's Galata Bridge on April 6, 1909

The Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC) commemorated Fehmi at his grave today.

In a ceremony held later at the Press Museum , the photograph of Güngör Arslan, a journalist in Kocaeli who was killed in February because of his reporting, was hung in the Gallery of Murdered Journalists of the museum. It was the 67th photo in the gallery.

The TGC declared April 6 as the Day of Martyred Journalists in 1997 and changed its name to the Day of Killed Journalists in 2005.

Speaking at the commemoration event at the cemetery, TGC Chair Turgay Olcayto said the murder of Fehmi came at a time of "booming journalism" following the decades of repression and censorship under the rule of Sultan Abdülhamid II.

A period of "booming journalism"

"In the country where only four or five newspapers were published until that day, many newspapers and magazines started publishing. In addition, cartoon magazines were published, and books translated from foreign languages ​​began to come to the country.

"With the opening of the parliament, an atmosphere of relative freedom was all around. Unfortunately, this atmosphere of freedom did not last long. In 1909, our master Hasan Fehmi, who was a columnist for the Serbesti [Liberty] newspaper, was assassinated on the bridge. Hasan Fehmi Bey was martyred by the bullets from a soldier's gun.

"... Sixty-seven journalists, including Abdi İpekçi, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Uğur Mumcu, Turan Dursun, Hrant Dink, Metin Göktepe and Çetin Emeç, have been killed to this day. While the triggermen of some of these murders were caught, those who instigated the murders have never been revealed.

"... We commemorate our master Hasan Fehmi and all murdered journalists with respect and gratitude. We are determined to continue their struggle from where they left off."

Nazlıcan Arslan, the daughter of Güngör Arslan, also spoke at the commemoration.

"Unfortunately, as the years passed, the number of journalists killed in our country increased, and my father, Güngör Arslan, was the 67th of them.

"While we talk about the press as the freedom of expressing thoughts,, we forget that hundreds and even thousands of journalists in our country are threatened, beaten, put on trial, arrested and killed." (AÖ/VK)