The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement that Turkish authorities should release all recently detained journalists held in retaliation for their work and ensure that the country’s anti-terror laws are not weaponized against the press.

At least 10 Kurdish journalists were included in the crackdown, which also targeted politicians, lawyers, artists, and others.

Authorities also detained Resul Temur, a Diyarbakır-based media freedom lawyer who represents more than half of the 40 journalists behind bars in Turkey who were included in CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census.

“Turkish authorities are yet again showing that they will use the country’s terrorism laws as a cudgel against the press,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the journalists recently swept up in a crackdown in Diyarbakır along with lawyer Resul Temur, and drop all efforts to suppress coverage of Kurdish issues.”

The statement added that "as CPJ has documented, authorities have recently detained Kurdish journalists in Diyarbakır and Ankara, and charged them months later with PKK membership on flimsy evidence.

CPJ emailed the chief prosecutor’s office of Diyarbakır for comment but did not receive any reply."