The fourth hearing of the case against workers of the Kurdish press has started at Silivri Prison Complex in Istanbul on Monday. 46 workers of Kurdish press, including Dicle News Agency, ANF, Özgür Gündem, Azadiya Welat, Demokratik Modernite and Fırat Distribution, were arrested in the scope of a so-called KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) operation on 20 December 2011. 26 among them are under arrest ever since.

The hearing of Kurdish journalists coincides with the 115th anniversary of the first publication of Kurdistan daily, the first Kurdish paper, in Cairo.

The hearing at Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court is also attended by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul deputy Sebahat Tuncel, Kars deputy Mülkiye Birtane and Istanbul independent deputy Levent Tüzel. It is also being followed by an international delegation including Belgian parliament senator Andre du Bus de Warnaffe, deputies Jean-Claude Defosse and Fatoumata Sidibe, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) member Johanr Bihr and Joachimm Legatis from the Union of German Journalists (DJU).

The hearing is continuing with the reading of the indictment which will be followed by the defense of journalists who will defend themselves in their mother tongue Kurdish for the first time since 16 months of imprisonment. Following a one-day interruption on 23 April, National Sovereignty and Children's Day, the hearing will resume on 24 April.

The names of journalists currently behind bars are; Fatma Koçak, Ramazan Pekgöz, Mazlum Özdemir, Ertuş Bozkurt, Semiha Alankuş, Kenan Kırkaya, Sadık Topaloğlu, Ömer Çelik, Nilgün Yıldız, Zeynep Kuray, Nahide Ermiş, Davut Uçar, Hüseyin Deniz, M. Emin Yıldırım, Dilek Demiral, Sibel Güler, Nevin Erdemir, Nurettin Fırat, Turabi Kişin, Ayşe Oyman, Yüksel Genç, Selahattin Aslan, İrfan Bilgiç, Şeyhmus Fidan, Haydar Tekin and Mikail Barut.