(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the attack by police officers on nine journalists in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on 28 March 2004. The incident followed local elections in the city that same day. The journalists were covering the suppression of a demonstration against electoral fraud. Three journalists required hospitalisation. The journalists, who were beaten with clubs […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the attack by police officers on nine journalists in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on 28 March 2004. The incident followed local elections in the city that same day. The journalists were covering the suppression of a demonstration against electoral fraud. Three journalists required hospitalisation.
The journalists, who were beaten with clubs and chains, were simply doing their job, RSF noted. The organisation also called on Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu to do everything possible to identify and punish the officers who carried out the attack.
On 28 March, at around 11:00 p.m. (local time), Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP, a pro-Kurd party) activists gathered in the area around the Diyarbakir court house after polls closed, accusing the security forces of rigging the elections. At first, police violently dispersed the demonstrators. The officers subsequently attacked the journalists who were covering the clashes.
The journalists who were attacked included Hakim Cetiner, a cameraman for the national television networks SKY Turk and Show TV; Saban Boz, a Show TV journalist; Besir Ariz, Faysal Karadeniz, Ahmet Bulut and Bayram Bulut, of the local daily “Soz” and the local television station Soz TV; Mehmet Sirin Hatman, a cameraman for the pro-Kurd news agency Dicle Haber Ajansi (DIHA); Bahire Karatas, a DIHA reporter; and Firat Duzgun, of the local television station Gun TV.
Hatman, Boz and Karatas were taken to hospital for treatment. Hatman and Bayram Bulut had their arms broken in the police attack. The officers also damaged their cameras and tried to seize film from the journalists.
