MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed (Diyarbakır)- Belgian police raided the offices of two Kurdish channels, Medya Haber TV and Sterk TV on Tuesday while nine journalists were taken custody on the same day in the dawn house raids conducted in Istanbul, Ankara and Riha (Urfa) as part of an investigation launched in 2022. A lawyer restriction has been imposed on the detained journalists in Turkey.

The names of the detained journalists are: Mesopotamia Agency reporters Esra Solin Dal and Mehmet Aslan, Enes Sezgin, an employee of the Yeni Yaşam newspaper, media workers Saliha Aras, Yeşim Alıcı, Beste Argat Balcı and Şirin Ermiş and journalist Erdoğan Alayumat.

NuJINHA spoke to women journalists about the crackdown on press freedom in Belgium and Turkey.

   

The attacks and crackdown on the Kurdish journalists and media workers have become systematic, journalist Candan Yıldız said. “Kurdish journalists and media workers are detained and arrested because of the ongoing silence. The worst thing is that the crackdown on journalists is seen as normal and natural. Kurdish journalists were taken into custody while covering the protests in Van and they were subjected to police violence. However, everyone remained silent. Journalists are detained and they will be detained because journalists’ organizations cannot protect them.”

 ‘The government detains journalists because it lost in the local elections’

Dilan Babat, a reporter of Jinnews based in Ankara, thinks that the government has intensified its crackdown on journalists because it lost in the local elections held in Turkey on March 31, 2024. “Journalists and media workers have been detained every day for two years. The government targets journalists and media workers whenever it is in trouble. Kurdish journalists and media workers have been subjected to attacks since the 90s. The first thing that the ruling party does is to silence journalists and media workers whenever it faces a crisis. Despite all the attacks, we are determined to make the truth heard. The government first targeted us, journalists, after it lost in the local elections. Our colleagues were arbitrarily detained without any evidence.”

 ‘These attacks make us stronger’

   

These attacks do not scare us but make us stronger, Dilan Babat emphasized. “We are used to such attacks and oppression. We will always report the truth. We are here and will always be here to report the truth. Nothing can silence the free press.

Öznur Değer, a reporter of Jinnews based in Mardin, thinks that the AKP-MHP regime implements the policies of intimidation in order to get out of the crises in both Turkey and the Middle East. “The AKP-MHP government has intensified its crackdown on the free press in Turkish and Kurdish cities for years. Yesterday, our colleagues were detained in Istanbul and Ankara. The reasons for the detention of our colleagues are unknown but we know the reasons; the Kurdish people are subjected to attacks in all facets of life. The government tries to find a way to overcome all the crises by attacking the free press.”

‘We should raise our voices’

   

Neither arrest nor detention will ever intimidate us, said Öznur Değer. “We keep working by getting strength from Ape Musa (Musa Anter) and Gurbetelli Ersöz. We will keep working despite all the attacks. We should raise our voices and be in solidarity with each other against these attacks. Joint response to attacks is important. I call on all journalists’ organizations to raise their voices against the crackdown on press freedom.”