The General Directorate of Security blacklisted 20 journalists, including DFG Co-Chair Dicle Müftüoğlu and TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş.

Journalist Aziz Oruç, who was extradited to Iran without a court order on the grounds that he attempted to cross to Europe via Armenia with a fake passport after living abroad for a while due to lawsuits against him, was arrested in Doğubayazıt district of Ağrı on December 11, 2019.

The blacklisting of journalists by the General Directorate of Security for intelligence purposes are also included in the case file of Oruç who is accused of being a "member in a terrorist organization". In the same file, 20 journalists who are accused of helping Oruç are seen blacklisted in a classified document along with Dicle Fırat Journalists' Association (DFG) Co-Chair and Mesopotamia News Agency (MA) editor Dicle Müftüoğlu, who is tried for "knowingly and willingly aiding the organization". The document is titled as "classified" by the General Directorate of Security.

Based on the intelligence information gathered against the Gülen Community, the document said that the journalists' articles were published in a magazine called "Journalist Post". The blacklisting document which claimed that the magazine in question is related to the Gülen organization included the names of the journalists, their TR identity numbers, their positions in the magazine and whether they were registered with the National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP).

TGS HEAD ALSO BLACKLISTED

Journalists Engin Sağ, Şemsi Açıkgöz, Mustafa Kılıç, Yüksek Durgut, Ramiz Kılıçarslan, Necdet Çelik, Hasan Cücük, İsmail Muhammet Sağıroğlu, Enes Cansever, Basri Doğan, Türkmen Terzi, Vedat Demir, Rabia Yavuz Türe, Yunus Erdoğdu, Naciye Nur Kılıç, Erkan Pehlivan, Dicle Müftüoğlu, Mustafa Kuleli, Ergkin Emet and head of the Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) Gökhan Durmuş, were also blacklisted in the classified document that included the names of those who were in the management of the magazine and sent articles to it. The document which claimed that journalists Durmuş and Müftüoğlu sent articles to the magazine was signed by the police officers at the Anti-Terror Branch with registration number 174774 and registration number 356021 dated May 24, 2022.

SECURITY DIRECTORATE REQUESTED BLACKLISTING

It is reported that the blacklisting document, which was prepared by the Ministry of Interior following the request of the General Directorate of Security to create a name list and information notes based on open-source search on the Gülen organization, has been sent to be evaluated in the works of the Provincial Security Directorate. The blacklist dubbed classified was also sent to the anti-terror branches of the Ağrı, Ankara, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Giresun, İstanbul, İzmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kocaeli, Sivas and Trabzon provincial security directorates.

'THE LIST SHOULD NOT BE SHARED WITH OTHER INSTITUTIONS'

The classified document requested provincial security directorates to collect information on the persons who were blacklisted. “The information notes and the list of names which were attached to the document we sent should be not shared with other state institutions,” the classified document said.

SMEAR OF JOURNALISTS

DFG Co-Chair Dicle Müftüoğlu spoke about her blacklisting: “My journalist friend Aziz Oruç was deported from Iran to Turkey. His family contacted me because Aziz was left near the border. Since my family lives in Doğubayazıt, I asked them to host Aziz in their home. Just because my family wanted to help him based on humanitarian needs, my father was imprisoned for 8 months. A lawsuit was filed against me with the allegation of "aiding an illegal organization". When we look at the file, there is no evidence that contains a crime other than my statement. However, a classified document was sent by the police in order to smear me. With this document, they are trying to convince the court that I am guilty or 'related to terrorism'. However, it should be emphasized that the main crime here is to blacklist journalists. I was blacklisted for writing an article for a magazine, which is my job. Moreover, I am a member of a professional organization and the article I wrote was written to explain the struggle of our association and the difficulties faced by Kurdish journalists. I am being judged for doing my job. TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş is also blacklisted. This was revealed in my case file since our articles were published in the same issue of the magazine. I emphasize once again that blacklisting journalists is a crime, and we will continue to say that journalism is not a crime, and we will continue to do our job.”