Merdan Yanardağ, editorial director of TELE1 and author of the opposition newspaper Birgün, has been in prison for over two weeks. The 62-year-old journalist is accused of "propaganda for a terrorist organisation" and "praising crimes and criminals" for publicly pointing out the total isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, which is contrary to international and national law. He faces a sentence of between one and a half and ten and a half years in prison. The Green Left Party MP Heval Bozdağ, who spoke to ANF, sees the arrest of the Turkish journalist as a dangerous development and states that even the utterance of simple facts is punishable now.

"Isolation also affects freedom of the press and freedom of expression"

The arrest of Yanardağ shows that the isolation on Imrali has now spread to the whole country, said Bozdağ, adding: “While lawyers and human rights activists worldwide denounce the isolation on Imrali as illegal, in Turkey the mere mention of isolation is punishable by imprisonment. This is an attempt to cover up the crime of isolation.”

“Disciplinary sentences create a pretext for the continued systematic isolation”

Remarking that Öcalan is not an ordinary person, Bozdağ continued: "For this reason, he is denied communication with his family and his lawyers. The aim is to prevent his ideas and discourse from reaching society. It is extremely worrying that there is not even information about his state of health. Every six months, a new disciplinary sentence is imposed on him to create a pretext for the continued systematic isolation."

Bozdağ stressed that: “This isolation does not only affect other prisons, but also the democratic institutions of society. The free press is de facto condemned to silence. All those who criticise the government and make relevant observations about the current situation are criminalised and accused. It is known that the words used by Merdan Yanardağ were also uttered by the government at many points during the negotiation process [2013 to 2015]. There are concrete examples of this. When the government itself is involved in the process, these words do not pose a problem for some reason. However, when the same words are uttered by the opposition, the free press or Kurdish politics, they are immediately criminalised and considered acts of terrorism."

"The only way is to steadfastly defend the truth”

Bozdağ defined these events as further proof that freedom or democracy cannot be expected from this government. “Instead, an entire social group is wanted to be silenced through the criminalisation of individuals. The only way to stop this scheme is to steadfastly defend the truth. If the social opposition to injustice and lawbreaking is not vocal, it will be extremely difficult to overcome this situation. It is the responsibility of all individuals to address the deprivation of rights, to defend democracy and universal rights and to stand up for human rights. Therefore, it is important that all those who have joined the alliance of opposition forces for the elections at least take a stand on the repression of the opposition media. It is time to name the isolation for what it is and criticise it accordingly. What is currently happening with Merdan Yanardağ is a message that clarifies how the government treats the truth, isolation, violence, prisons and the Kurdish question. It wants to say: ‘either you follow my policy, or you will be punished.’ Society and the public must realise this and resist decisively. It must be clear that democracy, freedom and equality in society can only be achieved through a common struggle."