FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Latest News

• Basque senator Elejabarrieta presents parliamentary question about journalists arrested in Turkey 

  Basque senator Gorka Elejabarrieta Diaz presented a parliamentary question to the Presidency of the Spanish Senate about the journalists arrested in Turkey.
• Journalist İpekçi: We need an organized struggle to counter attacks on Kurdish and free press 

  Former TGS chair Ercan İpekçi said that the government is engaged in a systematic attack against the Kurdish press and opposition media, and called for an organized struggle against it.
• Court sentences two journalist to prison for news they wrote and shared on social media 

  ETHA news agency editor Semiha Şahin and journalist Pınar Gayip were given prison sentences for the news they wrote and shared.
• HDP pays solidarity visit to Mezopotamya and JINNEWS agencies 

  “Journalists cannot be silenced, and the truth will be conveyed to the people,” said the HDP group during a solidarity visit to JINNEWS and Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) in Ankara.
• Jailed Kurdish journalists defend their job 

  In a message through their lawyers, three Kurdish journalists who were arrested on 25 October said that they defend their job.
• Tehran Journalists Association condemns arrest of two colleagues following Jina Amini's death 

  The Tehran Journalists Association condemned the murder of Jina Amini and the arrest of journalists who followed the events that took place afterward, accused of being spies by Iranian intelligence.
• Journalists arrested kept in solitary confinement in Sincan No. 1 High Security Prison 

  The journalists arrested last week are kept in solitary confinement in Sincan No. 1 High Security Prison.
• Journalist Eren: The way out of this darkness is solidarity 

  Turkish Press and Printing Press Employees Union chair Faruk Eren said: “The way out of this darkness is solidarity. If there is no reaction to the attack on Kurdish journalists, everyone will be targeted."
• Journalist Zeynep Kuray released under condition of judicial control 

  ANF journalist Zeynep Kuray, who was taken into custody at a vigil for ill prisoners in Istanbul, has been released under condition of judicial control.
• Nine journalists sent to prison 

  Nine journalists, who were taken into custody as part of an Ankara-based investigation, were sent to jail by the court.
• Journalists to be taken to court today 

  Journalists, who had been in custody for 3 days, refused to testify at the police station to protest the torture they suffered at the hands of the police.
• Kurdish journalists in custody: We are proud to hold on to the truth 

  The Kurdish journalists in custody said that they would continue to hold on to the truth and to “make heard everywhere the voices that are wanted silenced".
• New 24-hour extension of custody period for Kurdish journalists 

  The custody period of 11 journalists taken into custody on Tuesday has been extended for the second time. Journalist Ağgöz, mother of a 45-day-old baby, has been released on house arrest.
• Female journalists mistreated during detention 

  The detention of eleven Kurdish journalists in Turkey is being presented in the media as an anti-terrorist operation. Berivan Altan and Diren Yurtsever from the Mezopotamya agency were abused and threatened by the police.
• CPJ calls on Turkish authorities to stop harassing the Kurdish media with baseless charges 

  Turkish authorities should immediately release the Kurdish journalists in police custody and stop harassing them with secret investigations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said after the detention of 11 journalists on Tuesday.
• Journalist Derya Ren sent to prison 

  The Turkish regime accelerates its attacks against the Kurdish press.
• IPI calls on Turkey to release all detained and jailed journalists 

  11 Kurdish journalists were detained in simultaneous house raids in seven cities in Turkey on Tuesday.
• Sancar: Government seeks to silence society by attacking Kurdish journalists 

  HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar said that the mass detention of Kurdish journalists is part of a plan to silence the opposition press and society.
• Eleven journalists detained in seven cities 

  The operation against journalists of the news agency Mezopotamya and the women's news agency JinNews is becoming more serious, with eleven journalists now reported to have been detained on Tuesday.
• Police take six journalists from MA and JinNews into custody 

  The Turkish police stormed the editorial office of the Mezopotamya news agency in Ankara in the morning and several apartments. Six journalists from MA and JinNews were arrested.
• MKGP launches petition for imprisoned women journalists 

  More than 70 media workers are currently imprisoned in Turkey, at least ten of them women. The Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform has launched a petition to demand their release.
• MLSA co-director Ok: Not enough done to counter 'censorship law' 

  MLSA co-director Veysel Ok said that the opposition could not develop enough policies against the 'censorship law', and that it was not enough to bring it to the Constitutional Court.
• 211 writers, artists and intellectuals reject Censorship Law 

  211 writers, artists and intellectuals said: “We reject the Censorship Law that will push the country into a deep darkness. Against the lies of the tyrants, the truth of the people and the world".
• UN urges Turkey to ensure full respect for freedom of expression guaranteed under international law 

  Freedom of expression and access to information are necessary for people’s effective participation in public and political life and essential in any democracy, said the UN, calling on Turkey to ensure full respect for freedom of expression.
• International press organizations call for freedom for Kurdish journalists 

  Nine press freedom and journalism groups to examine the media freedom crisis in the build up to the 2023 elections. IPS