The Free Journalists' Association (ÖGC) has issued a statement saying there are still 23 journalists in prison in Turkey, adding that repression of the press is continuing and that women journalists in particular have been targeted recently.

The statement said that repression of the press in Turkey, which is known to have more journalists in prison than any other country in the world, has continued to mount prior to the election. It added that President Erdoğan's threats have encouraged the police and judicial authorities to launch investigations into anti-government media organs and journalists. 

The statement said the left wing and alternative press had been targeted in particular, giving the example of   Azadiya Welat newspaper editor İsmail Çoban, who has been charged several times with 'disseminating propaganda for an organisation'. Most of these cases concluded with the editor being fined.

'Women journalists being targeted'

The (ÖGC) statement said the AKP government had launched investigations against 45 Kurdish publications on the grounds they had participated on Roj TV programmes between 2004 and 2007. The statement noted that reporters from the women's news agency, Jin Haber Ajansı (JINHA), had been followed and threatened. It gave as an example Zeynep Akın being followed on 20.05.2015 in Batman, where two men threatened her with a gun and issued death threats. The report said that attacks on journalists were reminiscent of the 1990s, giving the example of another JINHA reporter Beritan Elyakut, who was threatened on her way home on 24 May this year.

JINHA reporters Asiye Tekin, Güler Can and Asya Erdoğan were constantly followed as they covered election campaigning in Tokat, Sivas and Malatya in April this year. The statement noted: "Despite our fellow journalists reporting the incident to the police in Malatya, no action was taken. The threatening of women journalists is also an attack on women, and an attempt to silence the voice of women."