Expression Interrupted

Journalists and academics bear the brunt of the massive crackdown on freedom of expression in Turkey. Scores of them are currently subject to criminal investigations or behind bars. This website is dedicated to tracking the legal process against them.

20 journalists detained in Diyarbakır-based investigation

20 journalists detained in Diyarbakır-based investigation

 

Lawyers of the journalists were denied access to the arrest warrants on the ground that the investigation was still ongoing

 

21 people, including 20 journalists, were detained in the morning hours of 8 June 2022 as part of an investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. Police raided the homes of journalists and confiscated digital materials.

 

Computers, hard disks, as well as some books and magazines, were also seized during a simultaneous police raid on the JinNews news agency's headquarters in Yenişehir, Diyarbakır. While 20 of the detained journalists were kept in the Anti-Terror Department of the Diyarbakır Police Directorate, Feynaz Koçuk, a production company employee who was detained in Gebze, was yet to be brought to the city as of late 8 June.

 

Journalists detained as part of the investigation are as follows: Co-chair of Dicle Fırat Journalists Association Serdar Altan, JinNews director Safiye Alagaş, Mezopotamya news agency editor Aziz Oruç, JinNews editor Gülşen Koçuk, journalists Ömer Çelik, Suat Doğuhan, Ramazan Geciken, Lezgin Akdeniz, Abdurrahman Öncü, Kadir Bayram, Esmer Tunç, Neşe Toprak, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Mazlum Doğan Güler, Mehmet Şahin, Elif Üngür, Mehmet Ali Ertaş, İbrahim Koyuncu, Mehmet Yalçın and Remziye Temel.

 

Lawyers unable to access arrest warrants

 

The prosecutor’s office imposed a confidentiality order on the investigation file and restricted the lawyers’ access to the arrest warrants, saying that the operation was still ongoing.

 

Stating that the lawyers' access to the file was restricted by the prosecutor, lawyer Resul Temur told Expression Interrupted that lawyers for the journalists were able to learn details about the investigation from the government media.

 

Police sources cited in certain news reports said that journalists had been arrested in connection with the coverage they produced for Belgium-based Sterk TV and the UK-based Medya Haber TV.

 

“The Diyarbakır Police reviewed 82-hour footage from 102 programs of Sterk Tv and Medya Haber TV channels. As a result of the reviews, it was determined that these channels were broadcasting with the aim of spreading propaganda for the terrorist organization, supporting the terrorist organization and its convicted leader, producing agitative content to create the impression that the operations of the Turkish Armed Forces against the terrorist organization were carried out against the Kurdish people, legitimizing the terrorist organization, conveying instructions from the senior management of the organization and revealing the start of an air operation in Diyarbakır to inform the members of the organization in the form of breaking news,” the police sources were cited as saying.

 

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