Turkey: CFWIJ Welcomes Journalist Zeynep Durgut’s Release
Location: Turkey, Şırnak
Date: February 17, 2022Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
Mesopotamia Agency’s (MA) reporter Zeynep Durgut is released after four-day detention. She was released after giving her statement to the Şırnak Courthouse. The court imposed a travel ban and measured judicial control against her. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) welcomes Zeynep’s release. However, we demand the Turkish authorities to disclose the charges against the journalist, if there are any accusations. We condemn her detention.
Police officials raided MA reporter Zeynep Durgut’s house in Şırnak on February 14 and took her into custody. Zeynep was under custody for four days. In the first 24 hours of her detention, she was restricted to see her lawyer.
The accusations of her have not been yet disclosed due to the confidential file of the journalist. Her statement first was recorded at Şırnak’s Police Department. During her interrogation, some of the journalist’s reports and social media posts were asked. Reportedly, the journalist was arrested because of some secret witnesses’ testimonies.
A day after her police statement, the journalist was escorted to Şırnak’s Courthouse for the prosecution interrogation. Following her statement, the court imposed a travel ban and judicial measures on Zeynep and released her.
This is not the first time that Zeynep has faced harassment at the hands of the state. Along with her colleagues, Şehriban Abi, Nazan Sala, and two other journalists, she stood trial on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” in a case based on their coverage of military torture in Van. The journalists were held in pre-trial detention after they reported on the torture and murder of two Kurdish villagers, Servet Turgut, and Osman Şiban, who was thrown off an army helicopter. The case which began in April 2021 ended last month with four of the journalists, including Zeynep, acquitted of all charges.
Before this, Zeynep was also detained in Cizre on December 18, 2020, during a General Information Scan (GBT) conducted by the police, wherein the law enforcement authority demands to see identification based on suspicion and runs your name through criminal records. The journalist was with her colleagues when she was arrested and taken to Van for interrogation.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes Zeynep’s release. However, we call Turkish authorities to disclose the charge of the journalist immediately. Zeynep is the second woman journalist who was detained without any given notice to her in Turkey. We consider those arrests as a new tactic to intimidate journalists. We condemn Zeynep’s detention.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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