İSTANBUL - Underlining that the Kurdish Journalists Day is at the same time a journey to truth, journalists said: "We took over our pen from values like Gurbettelli Ersöz and Musa Anter. Their pen continued to write yesterday, and will write tomorrow."
123 years have passed since "Kurdistan Newspaper", which was the first Kurdish newspaper published in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, on April 22, 1898 by Mîqdad Mîdhed Bedirxan, son of Bedirhan Bey. The newspaper, which had a total of 31 issues, ended its publication life in 1902. April 22, the day the newspaper started its publishing life, has been celebrated as the Kurdish Journalists Day since 1973. We spoke to journalists about the Kurdish Journalists Day and the free press tradition.
INDICTMENTS
Underlining that as the Kurdish journalists they are facing a lot of pressure in the field, Journalist Sadiye Eser said: "Sometimes these pressures present themselves as arrests and sometimes it presents itself in other ways. But the indictment against us are always empty in terms of claims and full of articles we wrote."
FOCUS ON VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS
Stating that the only area that reflects the violations of rights against the Kurds is the Kurdish press, Eser said because of this, journalism stands at an important point for the Kurds. Eser said, “Our friends discovered that 2 citizens were thrown from a military helicopter in Van and were later arrested. Only the Kurdish press exposes such news. If there had been no Kurdish Press, this incident would never be revealed because no one would dare to write about it. "Kurds are always subjected to persecution in some way and there is almost no press agency that has the courage to publish them."
THE PRESSURE ON US HAVE CHANGED, BUT IT'S THERE
Underlining that from the first day the Kurdish press has been in pursuit of truth, Eser told that all governments so far have targeted the Kurdish press. Eser said: "They used to bomb our offices and kill our reporters, now they are closing our newspapers and agencies and arrest us."
WE ARE HERE THROUGH RESISTANCE
Emphasizing that they will never give up on persuing the facts, Eser said: "We will continue the legacy of our teachers. They can stop us from writing by killing or arresting us today, but another one uf us will take over that pen and continue the day after. Kurdish press came to these days through resistance. The fact that we grew so much means how great the resistance was."
'WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO THE COMMUNITY'
Gülcan Dereli, editor of Yeni Yaşam Newspaper, said that working in the free press is a task that requires courage and the people working in the free press does it with this responsibility and awareness. Underlining that the news they produce are usually subjects to prosecution and that dozens of their friends are in prison for telling the truth, Dereli said: "The free press workers pay the price of telling the truth by being jailed. People knowing the truth disturbs the governments and we pay heavy prices for it, but we have a responsibility to our community."
OF VITAL IMPORTANCE
Stating that it is the free press that conveys what's happening in the east is the free press, Dereli said: "This is why journalism is important for the Kurds. Let's take the Sur neighborhood of Diyarbakır. It was levelled with ground and thousands were forced into migration. If this had happened in İstanbul, all press agencies would cover it. But if this happens in a Kurdish city, the press remains silent or even try to cover it up. And they did. Because of these reasons, Kurdish press is of vital importance."
WE WILL CONTINUE TO WRITE
Stating that the free press employees continue to work despşte all the pressure, Dereli said: "They have tried other methods on us before. Everytime we lost one of our friends in some way, more stepped in into this profession. They can not intimidate or frustrate the free press workers with pressure and tyranny. We took over our pen from values like Gurbettelli Ersöz and Musa Anter. Their pen continued to write yesterday, and will write tomorrow."
MA / Kadir Güney