Istanbul, December 23, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities to release journalists who were jailed in Istanbul on Sunday and allow the media to report freely.
On Saturday, Turkish authorities detained several dozen people, including journalists, at a protest against the December 20 killing of Kurdish journalists Jihan Belkin and Nazim Dashdan, who hold Turkish citizenship, in a suspected Turkish drone strike in northern Syria on December 20. The next day, an Istanbul court placed five journalists and two media workers in police detention pending trial and placed five other journalists under judicial control.
“The Turkish government is attempting to control the flow of news about Syria by intimidating the press, as evidenced by the arrest of journalists at a protest, the house arrest of Özlem Gürses, and other legal actions,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities must immediately release the imprisoned journalists and media workers, free Gürses, and allow members of the media to do their jobs without fear of retaliation.”
The journalists and media workers arrested at the Istanbul protest are:
- Enes Sezgin, social media manager for the pro-Kurdish daily Yeni Yaşam
- Osman Akın, news editor for Yeni Yaşam
- Can Papila, designer for Yeni Yaşam
- Serpil Ünal, reporter for the leftist outlet Mücadele Birliği
Journalists were also detained at a similar protest in the eastern city of Van Friday but they were released.
State owned Anatolia Agency reported on Sunday that the chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul is investigating independent news website T24 over its coverage of the reactions to the two journalist killings in Syria. Authorities are also investigating Seyhan Avşar, a reporter with independent news website Gerçek Gündem, on suspicion of terrorism propaganda and knowingly spreading misinformation for social media posts on Belkin and Dashdan.
In a separate incident on Saturday, an Istanbul court put journalist Özlem Gürses under house arrest pending trial on suspicion of demeaning the Turkish military over her comments on her YouTube channel regarding Turkey’s military presence in Syria. Gürses continues broadcasting from her home in Istanbul.
In another incident, the chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul opened an investigation into the Bar Society of Istanbul for suspicion of terrorism propaganda and spreading misinformation due to its statement on Saturday calling for an investigation into the suspected Turkish drone killings of Belkin and Dashdan, and the release of journalists and others detained in Istanbul at the protest against their deaths.
CPJ emailed the chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul for comment but did not receive a reply.
