Kurdish journalists call on opposition for solidarity

Kurdish journalists will not give up their fight against threats and oppression despite detentions and arrests, and the opposition media should stop being the spokesperson for the government, pro-Kurdish journalist associations said on Monday.

Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform (MKGP) and Dicle Firat Journalists Association (DFG) held a press statement in Istanbul to protest the incarceration of reporters from Mesopotamia Agency (MA) and JINNEWS.

Nine Kurdish journalists on Saturday were sent to jail, following their detention in house raids on Tuesday. The journalists were asked questions about their jobs and professional contacts during the interrogations.

Many journalists participated in the event, as well as representatives from Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS), Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Association for Assistance and Solidarity with the Lost Relatives of Anatolia (ANYAKAYDER), United Struggle Forces (BMG), Kurdish Research Association and Mesopotamia Cultural Center (MKM.)

During the press briefing, Yeni Yasam editor Reyhan Hacioglu said 25 journalists were sent behind bars in the last four months.

“Whatever they do, the free press will not bow down,” she said, calling on the opposition media to break their silence. 

“This silence will burn you too. Our statement is a call for solidarity,” Hacioglu said. 

Nismiye Guler from the DFG said that such attacks on the Kurdish press are aimed at silencing journalists and obscuring the facts.

"The government has no no limits in its anti-Kurdish attitude and hostility, but it will never silence the journalists of the free press,” she said, adding that the free press brings out the reality of oppression against the Kurdish people to the public.