İSTANBUL - Journalists greet July 24, the Day of Struggle for Freedom of the Press, with censorship, violence, detentions and arrests. Insisting on the truth, the journalists pointed out that their duty is to write down history and convey the truth and said: "No pressure can prevent this."

 

On July 24, 1908, when the Constitutional Monarchy was declared, the journalists decided not to show their newspapers to the censorship board and not to let the censorship officers into their offices. July 24, the date of the situation in question, was declared as the "Day of Struggle for Freedom of the Press" by the Journalists Association of Turkey in 1948. However, since that date, neither the pressure nor the censorship, nor the violations of rights against journalists have come to an end.

 

According to the June report of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG); As of  July 1, 75 journalists were detained. At the hearing held on July 11, 15 of the imprisoned journalists were released. While the number included in the DFG report has decreased with the recent evictions, many journalists, including DFG Co-chair Dicle Müftüoğlu and MA editor Sedat Yılmaz and TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağı, are still in detention due to their professional activities.

 

Journalists made evaluations about the July 24 Day of Struggle for Freedom of the Press, which they faced with censorship and oppression.

 

EREN: THE PRESS WAS NEVER FREE

 

Faruk Eren, Chairperson of the Press and Printing Press Workers' Union (Basın İş), affiliated to the Revolutionary Workers' Unions Confederation (DİSK), stressed that the press has never been free in Turkey. Eren said: "The opposition press and journalists have been tried to be controlled by the governments throughout history. We should not forgot the murdered journalists and bombed newspaper buildings. Murders have been committed under the supervision of the state in Turkey. Hrant Dink, Editor-in-Chief of Agos Newspaper, and Kurdish journalist Kadir Bağdu, who were murdered during the AKP period."

 

Saying that journalists who write the truth are constantly targeted by the government, Eren said: "Journalists are being tried in one part of the country every day. The situation of journalist Merdan Yanardağ, who was arrested for criticizing the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, Eren said: "All lawyers know that there is no need for his arrest. There is no criminal element in his words. They were arrested just for intimidation."

 

ALTINTAŞ: KURDISH JOURNALISTS ARE BEING TARGETED

 

Barış Altıntaş, Co-Director of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), noted that the press is constantly being silenced. Stating that the government started a "contraction movement" against opposition journalists, Altıntaş said: "Journalists are constantly accused of 'terrorism. Kurdish journalists are being targeted. The journalists who were imprisoned for 13 months as part of the Amed-based investigation."

 

Stating that the government applies censorship, Altıntaş said: “Kurds, Armenians and other nations have always been under pressure in this country. But authoritarian regimes took over the press first. The state always has a reaction to dissident journalists. The reason for this is the transformation of the state into a party state. We can give examples of this; The finger of the journalist who was following the news at the Suruç commemoration was broken. Journalists who followed Saturday Mothers were beaten and detained. Another journalist friend of ours was strangled. His arms were covered with bruises all over. In addition, journalists who follow the crimes committed by the state are battered. Despite these pressures, the free press will continue to follow the news.”

 

TAŞTAN: NOTHING TO CELEBRATE

 

Stating that after the last "Censorship Law" enacted by the government, the pressure on journalists increased especially in Kurdistan, Artı TV reporter Umut Taştan said: "The 15 journalists who were released. There was one point that we all underlined in the court: We are not the target here, the target is the Kurdish people, the demands of the Kurdish people and journalism. We expressed the demands of the Kurdish people and this society through journalism. It is not possible to say 'Press Day' right now because there is nothing to celebrate or rejoice in."

 

POLICE BROKE THE FINGER OF JOURNALIST

 

Stating that journalist Fatoş Erdoğan was subjected to violence in the last action organized by the Saturday Mothers, Taştan said that the government was afraid of the public's reaction against the "decay" and therefore resorted to obstacles. Taştan said: "I was detained during the commemoration of Pirsus and that my finger was broken, and that the police cursed me. I was also threatened with death during the attack. Both verbal and physical torture continued in the police station. It was very hot while we were kept in the detention vehicle and we couldn't breathe. We asked for the air conditioners or the doors to be opened. They cursed 33 people who lost their lives in Suruç."

 

KURAY: OUR MISSION IS TO WRITE IN HISTORY

 

Stating that journalists who insist on the truth are punished with torture, detention and arrests, Journalist Zeynep Kuray said: "I has been working as a journalist for years and has been subjected to constant pressure. The country is getting worse every year in terms of freedom of the press. Fascism is on the rise in the country. As fascism rises, pressures and restrictions increase. But our concern for conveying the truth to the people will always continue. Now the state's use of violence has reached a level of promotion. Whoever is worse gets promoted. Such a system.

 

MA / Ferdi Bayram