Turkish Police have detained journalists working for two pro-Kurdish news outlets in raids across five cities in "terrorism-related" investigations.
This statement was originally published on bianet.org on 25 October 2022.
The police carried out raids in İstanbul and Ankara, as well as the Kurdish-majority provinces of Diyarbakır, Urfa, Van and Mardin early in the morning.
Police have detained journalists working for two pro-Kurdish news outlets in raids across five cities in “terrorism-related” investigations.
In the capital of Ankara, police raided the Ankara office of the Mezopotamya Agency (MA) and the homes of three of the agency’s reporters.
The police detained reporters Selman Güzelyüz and Hakan Yalçın, and seized the “Jineology” and “Demokratik Modernite” magazines, as well as some books found in their homes.
In Diyarbakır, JINNEWS reporters Habibe Eren and Derya Ren were detained in a raid. The journalists will be taken to Ankara by land, Bianet has learned.
Öznur Değer, another JINNEWS reporter, was detained in Kızıltepe, Mardin.
In Urfa, officers raided MA reporter Emrullah Acar’s home to detain him. His family’s home in Dargeçit, Mardin, was also raided and searched, with many books seized.
MA Managing Editor Dilan Yurtsever was detained in a raid on her home in İstanbul.
Both MA and JINNEWS are multilingual outlets focusing on issues concerning the Kurds in Türkiye and the region, along with other issues.
Names of the detained journalists: Diren Yurtsever, Selman Güzelyüz, Emrullah Acar, Hakan Yalçın, Berivan Altan, Zemo Ağgöz, Ceylan Şahinli ve Deniz Nazlım (MA), Habibe Eren ve Öznur Değer (JINNEWS)
