Turkish police raid journalist’s house over false tip, delivered by e-mail

The Turkish police stormed the house of Sayime Basci, an economy reporter working for daily Sozcu, on early Thursday over a false “suicide bomber” tip. Basci’s house in Istanbul was raided around 2 AM local time.

The door was broken in with a battering ram, and as the neighbors reportedly tried to explain that they knew the resident of the house and the tip could be false, they were told to go back to their houses and not to interfere.

The neighbors later had Basci, who was in the southern city of Adana at the time, talk with the police on the phone, and the tip eventually turned out to be false. Basci, after she arrived in Istanbul, said: “The police were still there. I was told that the police would cover the damage. They went after the person who made the false tip."

Basci added that the tip was delivered to the police by an e-mail.

The Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC), said that a fresh incident of verbal or physical violence against journalists is being witnessed every day, and that it is regretful that an apartment was raided with a battering ram without first investigating whether the tip is true or not.

The Press Council (Basin Konseyi) stated that it is completely unacceptable that the police violently entered the house and caused material damage.

“It is suspicious in every aspect that the police officers irresponsibly raided the house of a journalist and caused damage in the residence without even confirming the tip made via e-mail (...) A possible fatal incident has been prevented only because our colleague was not in the house."