The eight hearing of the trial against  Kurdish journalists will be held at Silivri Prison Complex in Istanbul on 2 December.

Özgür Gündem, Dicle News Agency, Azadiya Welat, Demokratik Modernite and Fırat Distribution issued a joint statement before the trial and called for solidarity with the journalists on trial, and participation in the rally journalists will stage at Istanbul's central Galatasaray Square on 30 November to voice support for their colleagues.

The statement said journalists in prison were being held as hostage and tried because of the journaliststic works they performed, and the indictment against them was not grounded on any democratic law principles.

"Despite the fact that some of the journalists on trial have so far been released pending trial, the AKP government and the judiciary adhering to it have prevented the release of dozens of our colleagues by maintaining the 'hostage policy', the statement said and called on all journalists and democratic circles to support journalists during their trial and to attend the hearing, which will last till 6 December, to witness the trial of free thought.

The statement also called on journalists to join the press conference to take place at 18:00 outside Galatasaray High School on 30 November, Saturday.

46 workers of the Kurdish press, including Dicle News Agency (DİHA), Fırat 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. Twenty among them are under arrest ever since.