Turkey arrested 11 Kurdish journalists, 7 women

Roni Alasor – 27 October 2022 - Middle East Diplomatic – Turkey arrested newly 11 more Kurdish journalists, 7 of them are women. Thus, the number of journalists detained and arrested in Turkey increased to 46. Almost all of them are Kurdish. International Press Institute (IPI), condemns the detention and calls on Turkey to free them. The Kurdish journalists were detained in cities of Ankara, İstanbul, Van, Diyarbakır, Urfa, Mersin and Mardin.

The arrested journalist were Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) managing editor Diren Yurtsever, MA reporters Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Zemo Ağgöz, Berivan Altan, Hakan Yalçın, Emrullah Acar, and Ceylan Şahinli; and JINNEWS reporters Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer. JINNEWS reporter, Derya Ren, was also detained as part of a separate investigation.

After the new wave of newly arrests of Kurdish journalist, the International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, journalists, and media executives, condemns the detention of 11 Kurdish journalists in Turkey and IPI calls on Turkey to release all journalists without delay.

IPI stated that “Turkey regularly abuses anti-terror law to target journalists, who are frequently subject to arbitrary charges and imprisonment. The detentions fit a pattern of serious attacks on press freedom in Turkey. IPI calls on Turkish authorities to release these 11 journalists and all other reporters behind bars”.