DİYARBAKIR - Journalists who were arrested for their journalistic activities were charged with "News content, the editorial policy and the language of the news".

 

DFG Co-chair Serdar Altan, Xwebûn Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ali Ertaş, JINNEWS Manager Safiye Alagaş, JINNEWS editor Gülşen Koçuk, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) editor Aziz Oruç, 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, Lezgin Akdeniz and Kadir Bayram and citizens Feynaz Koçuk and İhsan Ergülen, who were detained on June 8 as part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, were held in security for 8 days.

 

16 JOURNALISTS ARRESTED

 

Abdurrahman Öncü, Aziz Oruç, Elif Üngür, İbrahim Koyuncu, Lezgin Akdeniz, Mazlum Doğan Güler, Mehmet Ali Ertaş, Mehmet Şahin, Neşe Toprak, Ömer Çelik, Ramazan Geciken, Remziye Temel, Safiye Alagaş, Serdar Altan, Suat Doğuhan and Zeynel Abidin Bulut were arrested on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organisation". Journalists Esmer Tunç, Mehmet Yalçın, Kadir Bayram, press worker Feynaz Koçuk and citizens İhsan Ergülen were released with judicial control measures.

 

 

It was learned that the file which still has a restriction order issued for it, was created with the statements of Keziban Kuday who caused 12 people from HDP Youth Council to be arrested. The person called Keziban Kuday gave a statement to the police, stating that the Kurdish press institutions in question have been working for Kurdish TVs and that the interviews of 'the leaders of the organisation' is being considered instructions for which the editors create content. In addition, the statements of anonymous witnesses Ezel and Firar was used as evidences in the case file. A report from 2009 was also considered an evidence for the journalists to be accused of being instructed by KCK executives. Journalists were asked about the content, the language and the editorial policy of their agencies.

 

QUESTION ABOUT NUDEM DURAK

 

TV shows about musician Nudem Durak made by journalist Elif Üngür is amongs the accusations. The fact that Üngür used footage from Qamishlo in a TV show was considered a crime allegedly for Qamishlo being a 'YPG zone'. 

 

JOURNALIST ACCUSED OF FOLLOWING THE JUSTICE WATCH

 

JINNEWS editor Gülşen Koçuk was asked if she followed the sit-in, launched by mothers who wanted to draw attention to the violations of rights in prisons. 

 

While these questions were asked to the journalists at the prosecutor's office, the Criminal Court of Peace, which issued the arrest warrant, made its decision only in relation with Keziban Kuday's statements. In the reasoning for the arrest, it was claimed that the journalists "informed the organization of the Turkish Army's course of action, praised and encouraged the organization's acts of forceful violence" and it was claimed that the journalists conveyed the instructions of the KCK to the members of the organisation hiding the instructions in the interviews.

 

 

MA / Müjdat Can