Candemir: Journalists are wanted to be brought to a point that they can not work

2019-04-09 12:47:36


	VAN- Journalist Oktay Candemir who has been recurrently taken under custody in the previous years, said: "Journalists are wanted to be brought to a point that they can not work, but we will use our freedom of speech and thought to the last point. We will continue practicing journalism even under the hardest of circumstances."

	Journalist Oktay Candemir who eas taken under custody during a police raid to his home on April 5 and was released yesterday with judicial control and a ban to travel abroad, has been taken under custody recurrently in the previous years. Candemir who have been sued 25 times in the last 2 years, drew attention to the point the freedom of press came to.Candemir said: "There are 180 journalists in prison today which shows the fact that the free press is under oppression. As a journalist I am afflicted with it as well."

	 

	Candemir who pointed out that many journalists' phones was tapped during the election process, said: "They made a decision that as journalists, we are potential criminals, terrorists, that we are trying to plant the seeds of hatred in the hearts of the people against the government. So they decided to tap our phones and found nothing. This is the perspective the government has for the journalists. There is no such thing as the freedom of thought, speech or press. A journalist is a criminal. A journalist makes the government look bad. A journalist writes what the government, the military, the police do wrong."

	 

	Candemir who reminded that the prosecutor told him that he criticized Süleyman Soylu. Candemir said: " I critisized Soylu. I did not insult him or anything. Critisizing Süleyman Soylu is a crime in Turkey. Journalists are wanted to be brought to a point that they can not work, but we will use our freedom of speech and thought to the last point. We will continue practicing journalism even under the hardest of circumstances."