Full and responsible news coverage is more necessary than ever in Turkey, now in the throes of the most violent rioting in a decade, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement published Friday.

RSF called for the release of media workers currently in police custody and urged the authorities to do what is necessary to protect journalists and facilitate their work.

The RSF statement recalled that the Jihadi organization Islamic State’s siege of Kobane, Syria’s third biggest Kurdish city, is the source of the current tension in Turkey where around 30 people have been killed in clashes between political groups or clashes with the police since 7 October.

At the same time,-the statement said- it has become very difficult for journalists throughout the country, especially in the southeast, to cover the unrest, reminding that at least four journalists have been attacked or injured during pro-Kurdish, Islamist or nationalist demonstrations in the past few days.

RSF noted four reporters for pro-Kurdish media – Bisar Durgut and Nihat Kutlu of the daily Azadiya Welatand Beritan Canözer and Sarya Gözüoglu of the women’s news agency JINHA – sustained stab wounds when attacked by demonstrators in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on 2 October. Durgut was rushed to hospital with no fewer than eight knife wounds.

The RSF also pointed out that the situation is especially tense near the Syrian border, reminding that a BBC minibus caught fire when police fired three teargas grenades at it near a border post in Mürsitpinar in Suruç district.

“The authorities have a duty to protect media personnel,” said Johann Bihr, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. “It is clear that, in this respect, no lessons have been learned from the Gezi Park protests.”

Bihr on behalf of RSF called on the authorities to grant journalists full access to the southeastern regions and the border areas without discrimination, regardless of whether they have an official press card.

Journalists without an official press ID issued by the prime minister’s office are being denied access to certain areas along the Syrian border that have been declared “military zones.”

Since 5 October, this has included the hill directly across the border from Kobane, which the media have been using as a vantage point for following the fighting in and around the city. Many journalists, including reporters from pro-Kurdish media such as the news agency DIHA, are being refused access because they lack the essential press pass.

The same restrictions are in place in the regions where a curfew was imposed after the violence of 7 October. Only journalists with a press card are able to move about freely there although, like the public, they are exposed to violence and hampered by the many army barriers. The curfew was lifted yesterday in Mardin and Batman provinces but is still partly in place in Diyarbakir and some districts of Van and Siirt.

According to Diyarbakir’s Free Journalists’ Association (ÖGC), around 20 employees of Kurdish and Kobane media have been in police custody in Suruç* since 6 October. In all, around 160 people have been arrested on entering Turkey from Syria and are being held at a sports centre in Suruç pending interrogation.

Reached by phone, fixer Perwer Mihamed Ali told Reporters Without Borders Turkey representative that “all of Kobane’s freelance journalists” were in police custody and were on hunger strike.

Remarking that the ÖGC also reported that four journalists were arrested in the Van region, Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of all detained media employees.

RSF also pointed out that some Turkish TV news stations have provided very limited coverage of these events, prompting expressions of concern on 7 October about a return of the self-censorship seen during the Gezi Park protests.

“In view of the crucial importance of these on-going events for Turkey and the entire region, any attempt to suppress or doctor coverage would be unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders deputy programme director Virginie Dangles said.

“We urge the media to provide complete coverage while refraining from fuelling tension unnecessarily. The peace process between the government and the PKK is too important in every respect, including for freedom of information, to be sacrificed to short-term political advantages.”

Coverage of the rioting in the leading national dailies has been very polarized and marked by political divisions.