Dozens of journalists were assaulted by the police while covering demonstrations, which were suppressed by the police with brutal crackdowns. Seven journalists were sent to prison today in an attempt to silence the media amid ongoing protests.
Photojournalist Bülent Kılıç, Kurtuluş Arı, a photographer for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, AFP photojournalist Yasin Akgül, NOW TV reporter Ali Onur Tosun, journalists Zeynep Kuray, Hayri Tunç, and Gökhan Kam, a photographer employed by the Bakırköy Municipality, were taken into custody in early morning raids in Istanbul on March 24.
The operation against journalists followed widespread protests in Istanbul and dozens of other cities across Turkey against the arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, in a corruption investigation. The mayor of Istanbul, a key opposition figure and presidential candidate of the CHP, was detained in the early hours of March 19. The incident triggered large-scale protests in Istanbul and across several Turkish cities. Police responded with heavy force, detaining over a thousand demonstrators. The aggressive crackdown, especially against journalists, has drawn condemnation from press freedom groups and heightened concerns over the state of civil liberties in Turkey.
The detained journalists were referred to court earlier today with a demand for their arrest, and were remanded in custody on the arbitrary and systematic accusation of “opposing the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations”.
