Turkish state continues to arrest Kurdish journalists
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish authorities have arrested at least three Kurdish journalists who are scheduled to appear in court in Turkey this week, accused of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Qamishli-based Kurdish news agency of Hawar (ANHA) reported that the co-chair of the Dijla and Euphrates Journalists Association, Dijla Mufti Oghlo, and the editor of Mesopotamia Agency, Sedat Yilmaz and his wife, Salma Yilmaz, were arrested in Diyarbakir. Filiz Yilmaz, another journalist, and others were arrested in Istanbul.
Last week, the Turkish authorities conducted raids on 21 cities in Turkey, most of them in Kurdish-majority regions of the country.
The raids lead to the arrest of at least 128 people and as many 150. They included 11 journalists – among them the editor at the Mesopotamia Agency, Abd al-Rahman Kok; correspondents of the same agency, Ahmed Kanbal and Muhammad Shah Aruj; the director of the Yeni Yasham newspaper, Othman Akin; an official from the Khobun newspaper, Kadri Esen; an editor Gun News, Brittan Januser; and the journalists Salih Kalash, Ramzi Akaya, Mehmet Yalgen and Michael Barot.
The journalists were reportedly arrested for “financing, recruiting and spreading propaganda for the PKK.”
The raids also targeted lawyers, activists, artists, and members of the pro-Kurdish HDP, the second-largest opposition party in parliament.
The HDP is widely believed to be the kingmaker of the coming presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. It is also facing a forceful closure by a Turkish court mere days before Turks go to the polls. This week, it officially endorse the main opposition candidate for president, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.