Turkey: Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform Spokesperson Ayşe Güney Must Be Released Immediately
Location: Turkey, Diyarbakir
Date: July 14, 2020Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform Spokesperson and JinNews editor Ayşe Güney was detained early this morning during a raid at her house. Ayşe's house was raided around 04.30 am and police searched the journalist's house for around 1.5 hours. No information has been obtained regarding the grounds of detention. The raid was part of an operation conducted in Diyarbakır and Gaziantep towards women's organizations in the region. 19 women rights’ activists have been detained during the operations. Police also secretly took photos of Güney and her colleagues in her house.
Rosa Women’s Association pointed out that since May 22nd feminist activist women’s houses in the region have been raided every 10 days as an attempt to silence and intimidate them.
Meanwhile, Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform issued a public statement on the detention which reads:
“The pressure on the free press in Turkey is intensified with each new day. Journalists are taken into custody by being targets of almost every political operation. The last of these pressures against journalists took place today. Our platform spokesperson Ayşe Güney was detained in the morning during a raid at her home. Detention of Ayşe Güney who is also the editor of the women's news agency Jinnews further proves to us that women journalists are targeted. Journalism was not a crime yesterday, it is not a crime today and it will not be a crime tomorrow.
We, who take over the legacy of women journalists who have written the truth, will not submit to pressures and we will never refrain from speaking our minds. While exposing male-state violence, we will not step back from our principle of making the voice of women struggling against this systematic and politicized violence heard.
As Mesopotamian Women Journalists Platform, we emphasize once again that we will not accept detentions and pressures against journalists who continue to struggle in order to write the facts and we state that the free press will not remain silent. We underline that we will be in solidarity with all the free press workers who continue their profession under pressure and attack.
Journalism is not a crime! Ayşe Güney must be released immediately.”
The Coalition For Women In Journalism shares the sentiments in the statement of Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform. We will be following closely on the details of the detention. We demand Ayşe’s immediate release and remind Turkish authorities of the constitutional rights of journalists on freedom of the press.
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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.
Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org
The Coalition For Women In Journalism closely monitors the incidents in Turkey with great concern. Since March 8, Women's Day, police violence against women journalists increasingly continues in the country. As the coalition, we urge the Turkish state to provide a free environment for journalists. Following the news is our most fundamental democratic right to report. We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues. Journalism is not a crime. Journalism cannot be prevented.
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