104 people, including journalists, artists and intellectuals, launched a "freedom for Merdan Yanardag" campaign. TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ was arrested on charges of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" after he spoke about the isolation imposed upon Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Poet Tuğrul Keskin, who started the campaign, shared the text signed by 104 people. The text condemns the lynching attempt of the Editor-in-Chief of TELE1 Television based on the distortion of the speech made by Yanardağ on television. The statement said: "We see this arrest as a serious attempt against freedom of the press and expression, which is guaranteed by the constitution and international conventions. We call on the authorities to release Merdan Yanardağ. This persecution is motivated by cruelty and it is a violation of freedom of expression."

In a speech on TELE1, Yanardağ said: “The isolation of Abdullah Öcalan has no legal basis. It should be lifted. He is not even allowed to meet his family and lawyers. How is such a system of execution possible?”

Signatories

The signatories are as follows:

Zülfü Livaneli, Müjdat Gezen, Rutkay Aziz, Müjde Ar, Levent Üzümcü, Sunay Akın, Ahmet Telli, Edip Akbayram, Selda Bağcan, Suavi, Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu, Metin Uca, Orhan Alkaya, Tuğrul Keskin, Orhan Aydın, Ataol Behramoğlu, Nihat Behram, Onur Akın, Haydar Ergülen, Cengiz Gündoğdu, Berrin Taş, Turgay Olcayto, İsmail Saymaz, Zafer Arapkirli, Murat Muratoğlu, Ercan Karakaş, Yüksel Yalavo, Zeynep Oral, Kerem Görsev, Suzan Aksoy, Övgün Ahmet Ercan, Ali Kocatepe, Ayşenur Arslan, İrfan Aktan, Nebil Özgentürk, Ünal Ersözlü, Tuluhan Tekelioğlu, Sedef Kabaş, Alper Taş, Kemal Okuyan, Ümit Zileli, Miyase İlknur, Halil İbrahim Özcan, Yaşar Aydın, İbrahim Varlı, İbrahim Aydın, Nevzat Çelik, Sadık Gürbüz, Ümit Kartal, Eren Aysan, Şükrü Erbaş,Cevat Çapan, Nesimi Aday, Aysun Kocatepe, Fatih Yaşlı, Uluç Gürkan, Namık Kuyumcu, Aydın Şimşek, İbrahim Karaoğlu, Haluk Işık, Kemal Kocabaş, Mustafa Bak, Suat Çağlayan, Vecdi Sayar, Musa Özuğurlu, Doğan Tılıç, Ercan Kesal, Nesrin Nas, Elif Ilgaz, Haldun Soygür, Metin Boran, Zeynep Altıok Akatlı, Önay Alpago, Atilla Güner, Ender Helvacıoğlu, Mahmut Kemal Kumkuoğlu, Sabri Ergül, Tülay Şubatlı, Tahsin Yeşildere, Baskın Oran, Binnaz Toprak, Oya Baydar, Abdullah Levent Tüzel, Necdet Saraç, Rıza Zelyut, Hıdır Işık, İbrahim Çiftçioğlu, Nevzat Süer Sezgin, Aytun Çıray, Raşit Tükel, Ayşen Şahin, Temel İskit, Lale Afrasyap, Necmiye Alpay, Nergis Mütevellioğlu, Atilla Özsever, Ayşe Fügen Aybars, Nilay Etiler, Tevfik Kızgınkaya, Banu Güven, Yusuf Nazım, Ahmet Saltık, İ. Melih Baş, Dilek Gözütok.