"Taraf" Newspaper Writers under Protest

Taraf newspaper writer Roni Margulies was attacked with eggs and paint bags in a panel discussion he attended in Çanakkale (south-western Marmara region). At the same time, journalists Mehmet Baransu and Emre Uslu, also from the Taraf daily, participated in a panel discussion in Batman (south-eastern Anatolia) that had to be cancelled due to heated discussions.

These events come after an egg attack of students on politicians last week after the police had used massive force against a student protest in Istanbul. On 8 December, politicians Burhan Kuzu from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Süheyl Batum from the Republican People's Party (CHP) were not able to speak at a panel discussion on the Constitution at Ankara University because students threw eggs at them and shouted slogans.

On Saturday (11 December), the former CHP Member of Parliament İsmail Özay, the Mayor of Sur, Diyarbakır, Abdullah Demirbaş, the Greek human rights defender Kostas Argaliotis, the former Member of Parliament for Western Thrace, Mustafa Mustafa and journalist Margulies attended a panel discussion at the Çanakkale Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) organized on the occasion of the Human Rights Week.

While Margulies was speaking, a person in the audience stood up and exclaimed, "You cannot talk about peace here. We know that behind the mask of democracy you seize every opportunity to defend the concepts of the AKP. Our fellow students were beaten last week in Istanbul".

When the person was going to be taken out of the hall, other persons in the audience started chanting and throwing eggs and paint bags at Margulies.

A commotion developed between people in the audience, the security personnel and the protestors who supposedly were students from the Çanakkale 18 March University. The police removed the students from the hall.

This recent student protest happened before the background of a discussion in the media on the use of heavy police violence in the student protest in Istanbul on 4 December. There was an extensive discussion on the brute police intervention against the students and on the government's role in it.

SayStop Initiative: Concern of racism

As reported by Milliyet newspaper, the organizers of the Çanakkale panel discussion made a press release after the event. It was said that the students wanted to protest Margulies "because of an attack on the revolutionary values in Turkey" but that it was mixed it up with a "lynch attack".

The SayStop to Racism and Nationalism Initiative announced on Sunday (12 December) that the attack was carried out "by members of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) and the Community Centres. [...] A Kurd, a Jew, a Greek and a 'provincial' Turk were attacked. This sparks concern of racism".

Baransu and Uslu prepared for potential egg attack

Again on 11 December, Taraf journalists Mehmet Baransu and Emre Uslu attended a panel discussion entitled "Democracy and Human Rights" organized by the youth division of the AKP. In expectance of a potential egg attack, Baransu and Uslu brought a pan and a small gas stove.

An official of the organization had an umbrella ready and Uslu said, "Feel free to throw eggs, we are prepared".

Alleged members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) addressed the journalists with questions asked in Kurdish and Turkish. They asked Baransu about the source of the documents published in Taraf newspaper. They asked Uslu, "You were working as a member of the police until 2009. Whose man are you?"

Subsequently, a heated discussion among the people in the audience turned into a quarrel and the panel had to be cancelled. (EÇ/EÖ)