CPJ: “Turkish authorities must immediately release all imprisoned members of the press

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged Turkish authorities to release 17 Kurdish journalists and a media worker imprisoned in Diyarbakir and to end the prosecution of journalists covering Kurdish issues. Fifteen of the imprisoned journalists have been in pretrial arrest without charge since June 2022. If found guilty under Turkish anti-terrorism laws, they could face up to 15 years in prison. The prisoners, who have stated that they had no ties with terrorism, are expected to appear in court again on July 11, 2023.

The CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna called on Turkish officials to stop charging press workers who report on Kurdish issues under the terrorism laws and added: “Turkey has long been one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists and this latest crackdown shows authorities’ fear of any semblance of independent reporting.” In the indictment, it is stated that all the defendants were producing Kurdish-focused shows on news, culture, art, political debates, and documentaries.

According to the December 2022 prison census of CPJ, 40 journalists were held in Turkish prisons, making the country the world’s fourth-worst jailer of journalists. In the same report, it is determined that the number of imprisoned journalists in Türkiye increased from 18 in 2021 to 40 in 2022 and that more than half of the imprisoned journalists are Kurds. The press freedom watchdog CPJ has repeatedly appealed to the Turkish state to stop the crackdown on journalists. An email sent by CPJ to the Diyarbakir chief prosecutor’s office regarding the cases of 17 imprisoned journalists was left unanswered.