DİYARBAKIR - DFG and MKGP demanded the immediate release of 16 journalists, whose indictments have not been prepared for 6 months, stating that it is a crime to keep them in prison.
Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform (MKGP) made a statement in front of Diyarbakır Courthouse regarding 16 journalists who have been imprisoned since June 16 and whose indictments have not been prepared. A large number of journalists participated in the demonstration, where photographs of imprisoned journalists and a banner reading "Free press will not bow down" were unveiled. The slogans "The free press cannot be silenced" were frequently shouted in the statement.
The statement was read in Turkish by DFG Co-chair Dicle Müftüoğlu, and in Kurdish by MKGP member Medya Üren.
Noting that the attacks against all opponents continue unabated with the partnership of the government, Müftüoğlu said: “Under the conditions of Turkey, the free press that sees and writes about these attacks is targeted by the same partnership. The only thing that hasn't changed for the parties that came to power and only changed their names is targeting the tradition of the free press."
'JOURNALISM IS TARGET'
Müftüoğlu said that 2022 will be a year in which the AKP-MHP regime has once again openly demonstrated its hostility to the Kurds and the Kurdish press. Stating that numerous violations of rights against the free press continue and the judiciary is used as a punishment method against the free press, Müftüoğlu said: “On June 8, this tradition was once again targeted. As part of the investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 22 people, including 20 journalists, were detained in house raids. Since it was known that there was not a single evidence of crime that could be shown against our colleagues, our friends were detained for 8 days and prevented from doing their jobs. The photo that the police confiscated from the institutions it raided and shared as 'criminal evidence' clearly showed that the target was only journalism."
FREE PRESS IS A TRADITION…
Müftüoğlu stated that the ruling judiciary resorted to the detention and arrest method against free press workers on October 25, as it did on June 16, and continued as follows: “This time, the order was given to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. 10 of our journalist friends were arrested once again, 9 of them within the scope of the Ankara investigation. We've said it before, we'll say it again. The free press is not a tradition that will end with murders, arrests, detentions and censorship. A free press is a tradition that is rooted in the truth, nourished by the truth and will not be silenced.”
THE INDICTMENT HAS NOT BEEN PREPARED FOR 6 MONTHS!
Müftüoğlu concluded his words as follows: “And six months have passed in the detention of 16 of our friends in a week where journalists were once again targeted. Our friends have been imprisoned for 6 months and an indictment has not been prepared for 6 months yet because there is no crime-accusation that can be directed at our friends! Because we know that journalism is not a crime! However, it is a crime for the judiciary to keep our friends away from their profession without any justification. Targeting journalism is a crime. It is a crime to attack freedom of thought and expression, freedom of the press."
RELEASE OUR FRIENDS
Müftüoğlu said: "This tradition, which we inherited from Musa Anter and Gurbetelli Ersöz, will continue. Stop targeting journalists, freedom of the press. Our friends should be released immediately and the trial against them should be stopped. Freedom for journalists!”