Deputy minister defends police violence against journalist Bülent Kılıç

* Detention photo: Hacı Bişkin/Gazete Duvar

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Banned by the Sub-Governor's Office of Beyoğlu earlier in the day, the 19th İstanbul LGBTI+ Pride March to be held in İstanbul's Taksim on Saturday (June 26) was met with heavy police violence.

Among the ones who were detained in Taksim that day was Bülent Kılıç, a photojournalist for the Agence France-Presse (AFP).

It has caused public outrage that the police forced the journalist to lie on the ground and detained him by pressing their knees on his throat. During his detention, Kılıç was heard to be saying, "I can't breathe."

Kılıç was released from detention in the evening on June 26. Making a statement on social media following his release, he has referred to the killing of journalist Metin Göktepe in police detention in 1996:

"They tried to make an attempt on my life, they wanted to leave me breathless. Whoever did this to me, I will bring them to account before the Constitutional Court, European Court of Human Rights or before whatever court of the world. As long as I live, it will be answered for at court.

"The evil that killed Metin Göktepe in the Eyüp Sports Hall tried to make me breathless by pressing my neck today, but they have failed. The people thankfully claimed their journalist. All friends mobilized. It is not that easy. We have some unfinished business."

CHP denounced the violence

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has also posted the picture of Bülent Kılıç's moment of detention on its official Twitter account and said, "Turkey does not deserve this tyranny. We condemn this mindset that does not respect anyone other than their own ways of life and deem this tyranny proper for journalists doing their jobs and for different identities. We will build the democracy that our Republic deserves all together..."

Deputy minister says it is 'not tyranny'

Amid this public outrage, Deputy Interior Minister Mehmet Ersoy has defended the police violence against journalist Bülent Kılıç by saying, "Detaining the ones resisting the police is not tyranny."

The social media post of Ersoy addressed to the CHP by saying, "Detaining the ones resisting the police during unpermitted demonstrations is not tyranny" has also been retweeted by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. (RT/SD)