‘Turkey is a prison for journalists’

* This news was published on ATÖLYE BİA Communication Platform atolyebia.org 

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

According to the annual report of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 488 journalists were behind bars due to their journalistic works across the world in 2021. The situation in Turkey was not any better: Ranked 153rd in the RSF World Press Freedom Index, Turkey still keeps several journalists in prisons and puts the ones outside on trial over their news.

Besides, journalists working in the Kurdish-majority southeastern and eastern provinces face more hardships compared to the entire country.

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Speaking to bianet on the occasion of January 10 Working Journalists Day in Turkey, Tigris Euphrates Journalists (DFG) Association Co-Chair Serdar Altan says that the year 2021 was a tough year for the journalists working in the region. Journalists Abdurrahman Gök and Derya Ren also talk about the hardships and violations of rights they face in the region.

Gok faces 20 years in prison

Abdurrahman Gök is an editor for the Mezopotamya Agency (MA). He filmed the moment when Kemal Kurkut was shot to death by police during the 2017 Newroz celebrations in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır. He is still on trial.

Gök has been a journalist for 17 years. He is facing 20 years in prison on charges of "being the member of a terrorist organization" and "propagandizing for a terrorrist organization" over the pictures he took, the information he passed, the news he wrote and the posts he shared.

Gök notes that the pressure on journalists in the region did not change in 2021, saying, "Nearly 20 court cases have been filed against me so far. The pressure on journalists has never subsided since the Republic of Turkey was founded [in 1923] but during the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule and especially after 2015, it has been aggravated even more with media outlets closed and newspapers and TVs silenced."

As an example for the violations of rights faced by journalists in the region, Gök specifically refers to the four journalists who were arrested for six months for reporting on the two people who were thrown from a helicopter after being detained by soldiers in Van's Çatak.

Mentioning MA reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehriban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala, Gök says:

Our friends were put on trial and punished because they shared the truth with the public. But they have been acquitted in the trial where they were facing charges. Because there is no truth to the lawsuits filed and trials held. The aim is to punish journalists.

Abdurrahman Gök notes that the pressure of the government deprives not only journalists of their rights but also the public of their right to receive information. He underlines that since they do not want people to know the truth, journalists are prevented from doing their jobs.

Women journalists regarded as a threat

Raising concerns about the hardships and violations of rights faced by women journalists, especially in the Kurdish-majority regions of Turkey, JinNews reporter Derya Ren says that the number of women journalists has been gradually decreasing in the region and Diyarbakır:

Like previous years, 2021 was a year when the pressure on women increased and did not stop, but women did not bow down and raised their voices. Women journalists working in the region have - of course - always got their share from this pressure. But they do not stay silent. Both the system and security forces consider journalists and us women journalists in particular to be threats and prevent us from doing our jobs. All women journalists working in the field feel it.

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Talking about the hardships they face as women journalists in the field, Ren says, "While we were covering news in Diyarbakır on March 8 Women's Day along with male journalists, we were subjected to identity check by security forces for minutes. While our male friends were let in, they prevented us from doing our jobs by making us wait for minutes."

Ren notes that women journalists are "always subjected to this discrimination while working in the field": "This is quite frequent in the region."

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Report: 62 journalists still arrested

Tigris Euphrates Journalists (DFG) Association Co-Chair Serdar Altan says that 2021 was a "dark year" for journalists and shares the following information: In 2021, investigations were launched against 54 journalists, 47 journalists were sentenced to 133 years in prison in total and two journalists were killed while 62 journalists are still arrested.

Altan also raises concerns that his colleagues are subjected to ill treatment by security forces while following up news in the region.

"Turkey is in the position of a prison for journalists," says Altan, concluding his remarks briefly as follows:

"This is also the case for the journalists who are not in prison. Because the journalists outside cannot find the opportunity to practice their profession in a free environment. As they do not work for pro-government media outlets, journalists are portrayed as bogeys, so to say. Therefore, there was no shortage of investigations, court cases and penalties against journalists."

(GK/SO/NÖ/SD)