As the AKP government increases its attacks on the Kurdish media, Istanbul 8th Penal Court of Peace has ordered the closure of Istanbul based daily Özgür Gündem on alleged grounds of 'spreading PKK propaganda'.

The newspaper chief editor Zana Kaya condemned the court order in the following statement;

“We have not received any notice yet and we learned about the court decision from the mainstream media. Our newspaper was already facing intensified attacks before the declaration of State of Emergency. We greatly repelled these attacks through our solidarity campaign. Taking advantage of the July 15 coup attempt, the ruling government is targeting all the democratic opposition media outlets now. The court decision to close Özgür Gündem is a declaration of this wave of attacks. The Free Press tradition will not bow to any pro-coup decision and it will defend to the end people's right to information. We call upon all democratic press and media outlets, journalists, professional organisations, NGOs and our people to reclaim Özgür Gündem and show solidarity.”