İSTANBUL –  The journalists who were arrested after being detained in Van were not considered journalists by the court committee because they did not have a turquoise press card (Turquoise press cards are given by the Presidency in Turkey) and stated that they did not need this card to be a journalist.

 

Mesopotamia Agency reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehriban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala who exposed the fact that two men, Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut was thrown out of a helicopter by the soldiers who detained them while carrying out an operation in the Çatak district of Van were arrested on October 9. Their colleagues reacted to the arrests. 

 

TEMEL: WE WERE ALWAYS TARGETED

 

Etkin News Agency (ETHA) editor İsminaz Temel told that journalists always work under pressyre. Stating that the journalists from free press are being blocked by the state in various ways, Temel said: "The only reason for this is to prevent the society from learning the truth, locking people in an open prison. Journalists stands with the oppressed, stand with those whose rights are ignored, those who are slaughtered. In this context, journalists have always been targeted by the governments." Stating that the pressure on journalists intensified after the State of Emergency (OHAL) when the press cards started to be given by the Presidency, Temel said that the government uses this card to pressure the journalists who do not write what they want. Temel said: "Government can not tell us if we are journalists or not. What determines if we are a journalist is the principles of journalism and if we live by those principles."

 

POLAT: JOURNALISM IS BEING MARGINALIZED

 

Fatih Polat Evrensel Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Fatih Polat also drew attention to the fact that the authority to issue a press cards was given to the Directorate General of Communication affiliated to the Presidency. Polat reminded that the government's giving cards to its supporters and marginalizing the free press for not being the persona grata paved the way for the criminalization of the free press. Polat emphasized that the journalism criteria have been limited to journalists approved by the government recently and said that this is unacceptable.

 

'COURTS ARE NOT EXPERTS'

 

Polat said that no prosecutor or judge can tell that you have to have this card to be a journalists. Just as they have to use experts to analyze a photo, all they can do is to request reports for journalism organizations. Underlining the news about Kemal Korkut's murder or the two villagers thrown from a helicopter, Polat said the duty of the journalist is to shed a light on the truth. Polat said: "Journalism can save lives if you do it right. But it can cause wars if its in the wrong hands. Journalism shouldn't be targeted this easily. Professional organizations have an obligation to react to this. Because this is an attack against journalism. You can not just say those who are liked by the government can work as journalists while the others rot in jail. Therefore we have an obligation to stand with our colleagues."

 

ORMAN: THEY ARE TAKING THEIR REVENGE

 

Freelance journalist Emre Orman underlined that these journalists were arrested because they uncovered an incident the governorship wanted to bury. Stating that the government is punishing the journalists who uncovered the truth, Orman said: "These friends have sacrificed themselves so that the people knew the truth. These  people are the successors of Apé Musa. They have never shied away from writing the truth. We are the witnesses of all of them as journalists." Adding that the government is taking its revenge on the journalists, Orman said: "What these journalists did was public service. They tried to get the truth to the people. The meaning of it in the state mind is terrorism."