Turkey: Six Women Among 20 Kurdish Journalists Detained After Simultaneous Police Raids

Location: Turkey,  Diyarbakır        
Date: June 8, 2022

Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe

Twenty Kurdish journalists, six of them women, were detained after simultaneous police raids in Diyarbakir early this morning. Officials have yet to disclose the charges, if any, on which the journalists were taken into custody. The Coalition For Women In Journalism reminds the Turkish authorities that members of the press are entitled to due process. The police must be restrained from harassing journalists to prevent independent reportage that the government finds unfavorable. We denounce the persistent practice of weaponizing the country’s legal system to silence journalists and call on the Turkish judiciary to ensure press freedom is respected. 

The Turkish state machinery continues to encroach on press freedom with the police routinely treating journalists as criminal and abusing law to silence critical reportage. On June 8, at least 20 Kurdish journalists were picked up by law enforcement officials after early morning raids at their homes and offices. The names of six women among the detained journalists are listed below. 

• Safiye Alagaş, JINNEWS Manager

• Gülşen Koçuk, JINNEWS Editor

• Esmer Tunç, Journalist

• Neşe Toprak, Journalist

• Elif Üngür, Journalist

• Remziye Temel, Journalist

Police also raided the premises of local media outlet Jin News in Diyarbakır and seized books, newspapers, computers, hard drives and other digital equipment. The publication shared on social media video footage purportedly recorded after the raid. The short clip shows missing digital equipment.

Ajansımıza polis baskını

https://t.co/erSo5TopnJ pic.twitter.com/VL3IvbXvWF

— Jin News (@jinnewsturkce) June 8, 2022

Details regarding the status of journalists detained today remain murky. Jin News is the only Turkish news agency with an all-female reporting staff. The media outlet and its employees are frequently targeted by the state for their coverage and stance on gender-based and Kurdish issues in the country. Local journalists and employees of other Kurdish media outlets in Turkey told the CFWIJ that they fear more raids and arrests.  

Last week, on June 3, Dicle Müftüoğlu, co-chairperson of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association and editor of the Mesopotamia Agency (MA), was detained by the Diyarbakır Provincial Security Directorate. She had been called in for questioning after a raid at her home early that morning.

On June 7, she was produced before the chief public prosecutor, charged with “financing a terrorist organization” and released on judicially imposed conditions. The pre-text for her ordeal? She sent money to fellow journalists and inmates Nedim Türfent and Ziya Ataman. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism extends complete support to Kurdish journalists in Turkey. For questioning the government’s policies against the marginalized Kurdish community several media outlets in southeast Turkey have been systematically targeted by the authorities. Most of these news portals, largely Kurdish, have been forced shut. The CFWIJ calls for the immediate release of journalists arrested without cause. The authorities must immediately disclose the charges against them, if any. It is unacceptable for the police and legal authorities to repeatedly violate the rights of journalists and circumvent due process. We have repeatedly called out police overreaches in Turkey and the government’s apparent complicity in encroaching on press freedom.  

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.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.