Statement on Özgür Gündem from US

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United States Department of State Spokesperson Mark Toner has stated that “we are concerned” about the closure of Özgür Gündem.

Toner was responding to a question asked to him about the closure of Özgür Gündem and its reporters being detained during the daily press briefing.

“We are always concerned, and we’ve been very clear about that, whenever we see an independent media outlet shut down,” Toner said, adding that “we would encourage Turkey, as it takes these kind of steps in the security realm, to be mindful of the impact that that kind of action would have on its democratic institutions, one of which is a free and independent media.”

What happened?

On August 16, Özgür Gündem was shut down by decree of the 8th İstanbul Court of Peace under the charge of “[illegal] organization propaganda. The decree said the shutdown would be “temporary” but it did not specify how long the duration of the closure would be.

Just after the newspaper was closed, the police raided the newspaper’s Beyoğlu office. After performing a criminal background check on some of the employees, 22 people were detained. Among those detained are editors of the newspaper, general publication directors, and an İMC TV reporter who had gone to the newspaper’s building to report on the event.

While the reactions to the raid were still going on, the houses of Özgür Gündem’s former co-editor-in-chief and current writer Eren Keskin, its writers Ragıp Zarakolu and Filiz Koçali as well as that of the newspaper’s license holder Kemal Sancılı were all raided. (EA/KT)