Arrest of Turkish journalists and activists condemned

Arrest of Turkish journalists and activists condemned

The charges refer to their work editing the Kurdish daily newspaper Ozgur Gundem, the statement said, adding that the three are "among 44 journalists and activists who have served as co-editor of the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper for a day to protest at the authorities’ repeated judicial harassment of the newspaper and its staff."

"Since May 3, 2016, World Press Freedom Day, 37 of the 44 Turkish journalists and activists who have taken turns to symbolically act as co-editor of the newspaper as a show of solidarity are facing criminal investigations," the IFJ-EFJ statement noted.

According to this, Turkish prosecutors "regularly charge Ozgur Gundem staff with making propaganda for the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey classes as a terrorist organization, and related charges for the newspaper’s coverage of fighting between ethnic Kurds and security forces in Turkey’s southeast."

"Many other journalists, including trade unionists from DISK-Basin (supported by IFJ-EFJ) are currently facing prosecution for the same accusations," the statement said, quoting Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) as announcing:

“Journalism is not a crime, we do not accept those arrests. They went to the court to answer the questions, we cannot accept that the court decides to jail them."

“The three should be released immediately and all charges dropped. Their only 'crime' is to stand up for press freedom and show solidarity with the staff of a newspaper facing continual harassment, intimidation and threat. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues in opposing this latest attack on press freedom," said IFJ President Philippe Leruth.

“Showing solidarity by working as journalist or editor-in-chief cannot be considered as making terror propaganda. The Turkish authorities are clearly misusing the legislation to silence critics and human rights defenders. Those people arrested must immediately be released, Turkey is working against itself by jailing press freedom activists”, said Mogens Blicher Bjerregard, EFJ President.