DIYARBAKIR - The families of the journalists who have been detained in Diyarbakır for 8 days, stated that their sons and daughters won't step back from the path they think is right, and called for solidarity.

 

The statement of 22 people, 20 of whom are journalists, who were detained with raids on their homes on June 8 in Diyarbakır, has been completed. Hülya Oruç, the wife of Mesopotamia Agency (MA) editor Aziz Oruç, who has been detained for 8 days and is expected to be brought to the Diyarbakır Courthouse during the day, and Gulistan Bulut, the wife of journalist Zeynel Abidin Bulut, condemned the detention of their husbands due to their professional activities.

 

VIOLENCE AND INSULTS

 

Stating that their house was raided early in the morning on June 8, and that the police officers who raided their homes insulted them and inflicted psychological violence, Hülya Oruç said: “We acted with common sense and calmness in the face of all their provocative acts. If we hadn't acted that way, bad things could have happened. If there was law and justice, journalists would have been at home on the evening of their detention. We don't even know what they were accused of for days."

 

Emphasizing that all their colleagues should condemn the detention of journalists, Oruç said, “When a journalist is detained and his profession, language or religion is questioned, it means that those who are questioning them can be subjected to the same behavior. Detained journalists were detained for reporting the facts in the region.

 

JOURNALISTS OF HONOUR

 

Expressing that the journalists in custody are people of honour and that they report about things that no other journalists in Turkey reports about, Oruç said: "They are people of honour. They never remain silent in the face of injustice. There is no organised support for them. Without journalists, we wouldn't be able to have information about a lot of things. Our first instinct should be to protect journalists."

 

WALL CLOCK WAS CONFISCATED

 

Stating that one of the female police officers mistreated them during the house raid, Gulistan Bulut, the wife of another detained journalist, Zeynel Abidin Bulut said: “They searched the house for about 3 hours and stormed it. They confiscated some of the books.  They confiscated my husband's computer, flash drive, two wall clocks and books.”

 

Pointing out that her husband has been working for organisations coming from the Free Press tradition for 10 years, Bulut said: “Zeynel has been detained and arrested many times. My husband would never step back from his own path. The more they reveal the truths the state hides, the more pressure they face. No matter what happens, my husband will not back down from the path he knows is right. As his family, we will always be by his side and support him."

 

'WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING IN KURDISH?’

 

Stating that the police asked them why they were speaking in Kurdish while Bulut was speaking to her husband in Kurdish, Bulut said: "Police could not tolerate us speaking in our mother tongues. The people raiding my house has the audacity to question us for speaking out mother tongues. I resent it. They ignore us and deny our existance. Their aim is to destroy our language and culture. They will never achieve their goal."

 

 

MA / Mehmet Gules