Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Date: October 28, 2019

Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe

Artı Gerçek columnist Nurcan Kaya was detained at the airport on Sunday. Despite being released after an interrogation, she has now been slapped with an international ban as of today.

We are alarmed by the actions of the Turkish government, which continues to target journalists for their work. Our colleague, lawyer and Artı Gerçek writer Nurcan Kaya was detained in Istanbul airport yesterday, when she landed.

At the time, she took to Twitter to tweet about her detainment saying that she had been taken in for inciting hatred and hostility in the public. This is a direct attack on her work; we urge the authorities to reconsider this harsh treatment of women journalists.

Nurcan was taken in because of a tweet she had put out about Turkey’s operation in Syria. She was taken in for questioning by prosecutors from an Istanbul Courthouse.

Despite being released after the interrogation, she found herself the subject of an international travel ban. The MLSA said that its lawyers will be appealing the ban.

The move comes days after a Kurdish journalist’s home was raided in Turkey. Nurcan Baysal is away on a residency at the moment and managed to escape custody by sheer absence.

This pattern must be broken and the authorities must stop targeting journalists through legal actions. Using the law in this manner will only create lawlessness and create a deeper culture of silence and fear. CFWIJ believes that a free press means a free society, and a stifled Turkish media will only harm the country.

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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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