Turkiye: Derya Us and Nurcan Yalçın Face Baseless Terror Charges as Turkiye Intensifies Crackdown on Kurdish Journalists
Police raid homes of journalists, keep them in custody for over 24 hours
Location: Turkiye, Diyarbakır
Date: May 6, 2024
Women Press Freedom strongly condemns the unjust charges against Derya Us and Nurcan Yalçın who were arrested by police for allegedly belonging to a terrorist organization. These detentions, following police raids on their homes, are a disturbing misuse of anti-terrorism laws to suppress critical journalism. Since the start of 2024, there have been at least three police raids targeting and detaining journalists working for Kurdish outlets in Turkiye. Such actions contradict the principles of a democratic state. The continuous crackdown on Kurdish journalists is unacceptable, and the Turkish government must be held accountable for this targeting. We demand the immediate dropping of all restrictions and charges against Derya Us and Nurcan Yalçınand call for an end to the persecution of Kurdish press.
On May 6, 2024, a series of police raids, prompted by an investigation initiated by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s office, resulted in the detention of at least eight people, including journalists Derya Us and Nurcan Yalçın, Women Press Freedom reports.
The journalists stand accused of "being a member of an organization" and "violating the law on preventing the financing of terrorism."
Among the detainees are also members of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), a leftist political group focusing on Kurdish issues. While the specifics of the investigation remain undisclosed by authorities, Women Press Freedom believes it to be linked to an investigation dating back to 2021.
The detainees were taken to a Diyarbakır court a day later and released under restrictions. These include a travel ban, preventing them from leaving the country, and a requirement to report to police stations weekly.
Journalist Nurcan Yalçın was detained over allegations of sending money to her colleague Kibriye Evren. Women Press Freedom has documented multiple legal harassments against Evren, including detention in February 2024 on similar charges and imprisonment in 2018. Evren is currently awaiting trial after being released with restrictions. We have also worryingly documented the repeated persecution of Nurcan Yalçın, being subjected to multiple trials and terrorism-related charges for her reporting with the Kurdish press. In a previous incident in 2022, her home was raided, and she was detained on charges of aiding a terrorist organization.
The targeting of media outlets and journalists serving the Kurdish population in Turkiye is part of a broader pattern of systematic persecution and restrictions. Documentation by Women Press Freedom reveals a consistent history of press violations against Kurdish journalists since 2019. This recent instance marks the third wave of detentions and raids aimed at the Kurdish press in 2024 alone. On April 23, 2024, nine journalists from Kurdish media organizations were detained in coordinated operations across Istanbul, Ankara, and Urfa. Among them, Esra Solin Dal, Mehmet Aslan, and Erdoğan Alayumat remain in pre-trial detention, facing similarly dubious terror-related charges. In Izmir, the homes of six media workers were raided by police in February 2024. They all face charges of belonging to a terrorist organization, four of the journalists were placed under house arrest, and the other two were released with restrictions.
These actions are part of a recurring strategy by the Turkish government to suppress critical press and silence Kurdish media by falsely accusing them of terrorism. Despite claims of enacting anti-terrorism measures, Kurdish outlets and journalists are penalized merely for addressing issues relevant to their communities through the Kurdish language.
Women Press Freedom strongly condemns the baseless charges against Derya Us and Nurcan Yalçın. The restrictions imposed on them while awaiting trial on these unfounded and serious allegations are unjust. We call upon the courts to thoroughly and transparently examine this case, lifting the unjust restrictions and dropping the charges against them. The state must cease its persecution of Kurdish media and stop equating journalism with terrorism.
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