During the raids on houses and media institutions in Diyarbakır on June 8, 20 journalists including Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) Co-chair Serdar Altan, Xwebûn Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ali Ertaş, JINNEWS Director Safiye Alagaş, JINNEWS editor Gülşen Koçuk, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) editor Aziz Oruç were detained. Reactions against the detentions continue to increase day by day as the journalists are detained by Turkish authorities for the 6th day now. More than 20 non governmental organisations, political parties and rights organisations including SOLIFONDS, Mojust International Fondation, medico international schweiz, Plattform fu¨r Frieden und Solidarita¨t, SP Schweiz, Collectif Question Kurde de l'Université de Genève, Basta, Demokratische Juristinnen und Juristen der Schweiz DJS, Solidarité sans frontières, VERT-E-S Suisse, made a call for the release of the journalists. The call made by the said organisations included the following statements, 

 

"Solidarity with arrested journalists in Turkey

Call for their immediate release

 

Freedom of expression is under constant and increasing attack in Turkey. Academics, journalists and writers who criticise the government are at risk of criminal investigation, prosecution, intimidation, harassment and censorship. This strategy, combined with the recentarrest of 21 journalists in Diyarbakir, sends a clear and disturbing message and has serious consequences for press freedom. The scale of the arrests and the repression of the media by the Turkish government is described by many international institutions and organisations as that of "a country that is a prison for journalists".

 

On Wednesday 8 June 2022, the police raided the homes of many journalists in Diyarbakır in the morning. During the raids, Serdar Altan, co-chair of Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), Safiye Alagaş, director of JINNEWS, Gülşen Koçuk, editor-in-chief of JINNEWS, Aziz Oruç, editor-in-chief of Mesopotamia Agency (MA), editor-in-chief of the Xwebûn newspaper Mehmet Ali Ertaş, and journalists Ömer Çelik Suat Doğuhan, Ramazan Geciken, Esmer Tunç, Neşe Toprak, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Mazlum Doğan Güler, Mehmet Şahin, Elif Üngür, İbrahim Koyuncu, Remziye Temel, Mehmet Yalçın, Abdurrahman Öncü, Feynaz Koçuk, Lezgin Akdeniz, and Kadir Bayram were arrested.

 

Six of these journalists’ offices have been searched and their technical equipment has been confiscated. As an order of confidentiality has been imposed on the case, it is not known what the journalists were accused of until now. In an environment where fundamental rights and freedoms are violated, the government and its partners continue to target journalists, to pave the way for physical attacks and to reward those who attack journalists with impunity. Keeping journalists in prison on arbitrary charges and for long periods of time continues to be an insult to democracy.Turkey remains an extremely repressive country for the press. Turkish authorities and courts equate critical journalism with criminal terrorist activity. This situation has also been widely criticised by international organisations including the UN, the Council of Europe and the EU, RSF and Amnesty International."

 

In the call text, it was pointed out that the pressures on freedom of thought and expression in Turkey are increasing, and it was emphasized that Turkey has turned into a prison for journalists.

 

SIGNATORIES

 

More than 100 academics, human rights defenders, writers, journalists, MPs and NGO representatives like Jean Ziegler, Erica D. Ziegler, Prof. Radha D'Souza, Margaret Owen, Les Lewidow, Siobhan Wall, Juan Gasparini, Desmond Fernandes, Estella Schmid, Cornelia Rohr, Fréderike Geerdink, Engin Sustam, Solange Zongo, Assmaa Shaban, Raquel Vidal, Viviana Fiorentino, Therese Kieran, Ragıp Lami Özgen, Miriam Turley, Steve Sweeney signed the petition from different countries including Switzerland, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Sweden, Netherlands and India.

 

CAMPAIGN LINK

 

To participate in the campaign, people can send an e-mail to journalistesolidarite@gmail.com or fill out a form at https://form.jotform.com/221605337173047.