Among the journalists who were taken to prison is Serdar Altan, co-president of a journalistic association.
Sixteen journalists were imprisoned in Turkey today at Diyarbakirin the southeastern part of the country where the majority of the inhabitants are Kurds, for “Participation in a terrorist organization”according to the decision in the possession of AFP.
Twenty journalists working in media and production companies affiliated with the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) arrested on June 8 for “participation in the journalism sector” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara and the West consider a terrorist organization.
Sixteen of them were remanded in custody today, among them Serdar Altan co-chair of a journalists’ association accused of “participating in a terrorist organization”, one of their lawyers, Resul Temir, told AFP.
The rest were released under conditions.
According to local media, journalists were questioned by the prosecutor about the content of their articles.
“This leads us to believe that this is a pre-election maneuver in order to pull the rug under the feet of the Kurdish political class and deprive it of the means of expression.” reacted o Erol Oteroglu, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Representative in Turkey.
He stressed that these arrests were made at a time when Turkey prepares an operation against Kurds fighters in northern Syria.
NGOs regularly report it deterioration of press freedom in Turkeywhich in 2022 was ranked 149th in the relevant ranking of RSFs in a total of 180 countries.
THE Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the HDP, the third largest party in the Turkish parliament, of being the PKK’s “political showcase”.
Since 2016, many members of the party have been arrested, including its leader Selahattin Demirtas, who remains in prison.
