Journalist Kadir Cesur, a founding member of the Human Rights and Media Association, has stated that restrictions on freedom of expression, lawsuits and investigations constitute a serious problem for the country's democracy. Lawyer Burcu Şeber, another founding member of the association, has drawn attention to the situation of women journalists in particularNİMET ÖLMEZ, VANIn Van, one of the cities where intense violations of freedom of thought and expression are experienced, all protests and events were banned by the Governorate from 2016 to 2023 on the grounds of “security.” While the governor's office first imposed these bans at 15-day intervals, this period increased to 30 days during the pandemic. For seven years, all statements by NGOs, associations, and political parties in the city against the government were banned, while the protests and events of NGOs and political parties close to the AKP and the government were excluded from these bans.

Journalists were most affected by the bansThe bans, which assimilated with former Van Governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez in 2016, on protests and events in Van were partially eased after Governor Ozan Balcı took office on 24 July 2022. With the change of the governor, instead of uninterrupted bans spread over the whole year, 3-4 days of action and event bans covering the duration of the action and event were issued. Following the announcements by NGOs and political parties that they would organize protests, events or press releases, bans were imposed for 3-4 days.Many journalists were prevented from reporting, and journalists were detained on the grounds of the bans on protests and events. Again, many NGO representatives and journalists were put on trial for violating these bans. NGO representatives and journalists who were charged with “violating the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations” were acquitted at the end of the trial. Another issue that put journalists in a difficult situation was the access block orders issued against their news articles. 

These bans led to many people being beaten and detained. While journalists were beaten, lawsuits were filed against members of political parties and NGOs for violating the law. At the end of these lawsuits, a few of them were fined, but the Constitutional Court overturned the decision against the Çaldıran District executives of the Peoples' Democratic Party, who had previously been fined, and deemed the practice a violation. On the other hand, the Van Bar Association filed a lawsuit against the bans on protests and events in 2018. Until 2021, numerous lawsuits were filed against the bans. After all the lawsuits were rejected, Van Bar Association's individual applications to the Constitutional Court were also rejected. Appeals to the Erzurum Regional Administrative Court were also rejected. (Human Rights Association’s Van Branch's report dated 10 June 2024)

According to the data of Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, dozens of journalists have been beaten and threatened in Van in the last six months. Journalists are still on trial for the cases filed against them. Some of the rights violations against journalists are as follows:

- In the first days of April, following the annulment of the civil rights of Abdullah Zeydan, who was elected as co-mayor of Van Metropolitan Municipality, by the Supreme Election Council, police violence against the public protests that started in the city was also directed against journalists covering the protests. Journalists were prevented from doing their work at many points. The police broke up with gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, erased the footage taken by journalists, and threatened some journalists who were covering the violence with death.

-Gazete Duvar reporter Kadir Cesur was wounded with two rubber bullets during the protests in Van on 2 April. The rubber bullets hit his kneecap and leg, and left Cesur with bruises on his body.

-Journalist Ruşen Takva was hit with water cannons during the protests in Van.

-Journalist Oktay Candemir's phone was confiscated by the police, images he took were forcibly deleted and he was subjected to insults while trying to cover the protests in Van.

-Five journalists were attacked by the police in Van while covering the police intervention at various points.

-KRD reporter Umut Taştan was hit by a rubber bullet during news coverage in Van.

-Rudaw cameraman Muhammed Şakir was hit by a tear gas bomb during news coverage in Van.

-At the entrance of the building where the DEM Party's Central Executive Board meeting was held and where the CHP delegation was welcomed, the delegation was not allowed to leave the building, and all exits of the building were blocked by the police. The press was also prevented from taking footage.

-Journalist Ece Üner was threatened with death after she reacted against the revocation of the rights of Abdullah Zeydan, Co-Mayor of Van Metropolitan Municipality, and giving the certificate of election to Abdulahat Arvas of AKP, who came second in the election.

-Journalist Medine Mamedoğlu, who was covering the protests in Van, was detained during the demonstration. Mamedoğlu was released after police procedures.

-An investigation was launched against journalist Oktay Candemir on the charge of “insulting a public official” upon the complaint filed by Abdulahat Arvas, the AKP candidate for the Metropolitan Municipality in the local elections.

-Abdulahat Arvas filed a criminal complaint against journalists Necdet Tam, Oktay Candemir and Adnan Bilen over reporting on the post-election events.

-The first hearing of the lawsuit filed against journalist Nimet Ölmez due to “publicly insulting a public official” was held at Hakkâri 1st Criminal Court of First Instance. The court acquitted Ölmez, who had testified two days ago in Van as part of the hearing.

-The first hearing in the retrial of journalist İdris Yılmaz for “insulting” former Erciş Mayor Fatih Çiftçi through his news article titled “Hırsıza ödül hizmete kelepçe" (Reward for thief, handcuffs for service) was held on 14 May at the Ankara 6th Criminal Court of First Instance. At the end of the hearing, Yılmaz was acquitted on the grounds that “the charged act is not defined as a crime in the law.” Journalist Yılmaz had prepared the news article after the appointment of a trustee to the Erciş Municipality in 2016. At the end of the lawsuit filed at the Ankara 6th Criminal Court of First Instance, the expression “thief” in the news article was justified as “insult” and a judicial fine of TL 6 thousand TL. Yılmaz appealed the case to the Court of Cassation, and the 4th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation, in its decision dated 25 December 2023, reversed the verdict in favor of acquittal, stating that “it is accepted in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR that officials who have been granted certain administrative powers should show more tolerance to criticism of their words and actions.”

-Journalist Yasin İpek was beaten by an unidentified person after his social media posts about Vanspor. İpek went to the hospital to get a battering report.

-The 61st and final hearing in the case against Hamdiye Çiftçi Öksüz, reporter of the shut-down Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was held at the Hakkâri 1st High Criminal Court. Journalist Öksüz did not attend the hearing. The court sentenced Öksüz to 6 years and 3 months in prison with a ban on leaving the country on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.”

-The prosecutor's office issued a non-prosecution decision five months later for Voice of America (VOA) Kurdish Service regional correspondent Arif Aslan as well as journalists Oktay Candemir and Lokman Gezgin, whose homes were raided in Van on 27 February 2024 and who were released after three days in custody. The prosecutor's office also ordered the return of confiscated equipment and documents.

Ziya Ataman, a reporter for the Dicle News Agency was detained in Van in 2016 and placed in pre-trial detention on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.” Ataman is currently being held in Erzurum Dumlu High Security Closed Prison No. 2.

Journalist Cesur: "We struggle for journalists who will publicize rights violations"Journalist Kadir Cesur and lawyer Burcu Şeber, founders of the Human Rights and Media Association, which was established in Van in 2020, said that they started field work in the face of rights violations and crackdowns on journalists. Cesur emphasized that the restrictions against journalists continue to increase and spoke as follows: “As an association operating in a sensitive geography like Van, our priority is to make human rights violations and the oppression and violence against journalists visible. We focus especially on the Kurdish issue, women's rights, children's rights, and migrant rights. However, we also fight for journalists who can report on rights violations in these areas. We work to ensure the necessary conditions for journalists to report safely. In this context, we provide services such as legal support and psychological counseling during legal processes. On the other hand, we plan to organize trainings for journalists to improve their knowledge and skills on human rights, media law and ethical principles of journalism. We can evaluate our association's activities for journalists under four main headings. These include training programs, legal support, research, and reporting.”

Stating that restrictions on journalists' freedom of expression, lawsuits and investigations constitute a serious problem for the country's democracy, Cesur said, “This situation is worrying both because freedom of the press is a fundamental human right and the public has the right to access accurate information. Unfortunately, journalists face lawsuits and investigations, economic hardship, threats, insults, physical attacks, and self-censorship mechanisms. This situation reduces the diversity of the media and causes it to become increasingly monophonic.”

Lawyer Şeber: "Our focus is on women, girls and journalists"Burcu Şeber, another founding member of the association, pointed out that there are many rights violations in the geography we live in, and stated that it is important to follow up violations, to guide victims and to provide them with legal support when necessary. Stating that when a woman or a girl is subjected to violence, she does not know what to do or where to go first, Şeber said: “At least 90 percent of the population living in the Serhat region, including Van, identify themselves as Kurdish. On the other hand, the fact that a significant portion of the rights violations in Turkey are being experienced in Van, where our association is headquartered, has turned the focus of our work to women, girls, journalists, and LGBT+ individuals. In fact, it is now common knowledge that almost 95 percent of the media institutions and organizations in Turkey, which are defined as mainstream or affiliated media, act under the guidance of the government.

The small percentage of journalists and media outlets that fall outside this group are also under immense pressure, with detentions, arrests or investigations following the news items they prepare, the comments they make or the corruption they document. Especially if the journalist is a woman, she is subjected to harassment, swearing and sexist discourse in addition to all these pressures. For this reason, while violations experienced by journalists is an important area of our work, the situations faced by women journalists due to their gender is our priority area of work. Therefore, our work primarily aims to put pressure on decision-makers by bringing the violations experienced by this overwhelming majority to the national and international arena. We also aim to be in solidarity with all groups who feel they belong to different religions, races, and communities and who have been suffering from rights violations.”