Candemir has said, “I have been detained five times in the last five years, and over 50 investigations have been launched against me. Speaking the truth is not allowed"

AZIZ ORUÇ, İSTANBUL

Journalist Oktay Candemir, who is being investigated over a column he wrote after the appointment of a trustee to İstanbul's Esenyurt Municipality, has stated that his column did not contain any element of crime and that journalists are being put under pressure through investigations.

An investigation was launched against journalist Oktay Candemir on the charhe of “inciting the public to hatred and hostility” over his column titled “Sürgün Kürtlerine Kayyum” (Kayyum to Kurds in Exile) after the appointment of a trustee to İstanbul's Esenyurt Municipality. Candemir went to Van Security Directorate on November 21 and gave a statement.

In his statement, Candemir was asked about his column. Candemir said, “I find the trustee appointments wrong. Since a trustee was appointed to Esenyurt Municipality, where the Kurdish population is dense, I think that the trustee was appointed to the Kurds. The article in question is within the scope of freedom of thought and expression. I do not accept the accusations.”

Candemir spoke to Expression Interrupted about the investigation against him.

“Five detentions, 50 investigations in five years”

Candemir said the following: “There has been a very serious pressure on the free press and opposition media outlets in Turkey for many years. Journalists have faced unsolved murders for years. Now, journalists are subjected to arrests and pressure every day for speaking the truth and reality. As an employee of the free press, I am a journalist who has been subjected to judicial pressure for years. I have been detained five times in the last five years and more than 50 investigations have been launched against me. Pressure on journalists is also increasing through trustee appointments and other anti-democratic practices. The truth is not allowed to be expressed.”

“I was investigated for criticizing the trustee”

“A new investigation was opened against me because I criticized the trustee, because I said 'trustees are being appointed to Kurds,'” Candemir said, adding that journalists are constantly in courthouse corridors and police stations for “trivial reasons.”

Candemir stated, “Journalists are being investigated for allegations that do not constitute a crime under the law. As employees of the free press, as journalists from the Musa Anter tradition, we have been enduring these pressures. We are used to facing these pressures. We will continue journalism as free press workers from now on. Journalism is not a crime.”