ISTANBUL - Protesting the detention of journalists in Diyarbakır, free press workers said that repression will not silence the free press and that journalists will continue to write the truth.

 

Free press workers in Istanbul held a press release in front of Süreyya Opera House in Kadıköy in solidarity with 22 people, 20 of whom are journalists, who were detained in Diyarbakır on June 8. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Istanbul MPs Dilşat Canbaz, Musa Piroğlu, Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and Mesopotamia Women Journalists' Platform (MKGP), Turkey Workers Party (TIP) and Revolutionary Party members and many journalists participated in the press release.

 

'FREE PRESS WILL CONTINUE TO DO ITS WORK'

 

Stating that the reason for the pressures, especially the raids on HDK and HDP, is the deadlock created by the AKP, and citizens are being detained in groups on a daily basis, HDP MP Dilşat Canbaz said: “22 people, 20 of whomjournalists, were detained. We emphasize that the detainees are journalists. Look at the prisons, how many journalists are in exile. We have experienced many things in the past. But the intolerance experienced over the past 20 years is evident in a press release about freedom of the press. Journalism is not a crime. In every press release, the first barricades are set up against our colleagues, and they inflict violence on them first because they don't want the truth to be written. Our colleagues who were detained on June 8 could not find a crime, they tried to create a crime. Computers were confiscated, journalism is not a crime, the free press cannot be silenced. They will continue to follow the truth, and we support our colleagues."

 

'WE WILL CONTINUE TO REPORT THE TRUTH'

 

Speaking on behalf of the MGKP, journalist Nişmiye Güler started her speech by thanking everyone who participated in the statement and offered support for their support. Güler said: “Our offices were searched for 8 days. Confidentiality was brought to the investigation and attorneys were not informed. While we could not get information, our profession and colleagues were targeted in the mainstream media. Women and Kurds are always the first targets in this country. We will continue to report the truth. It is the shame of this country that we are making a statement within the blockade now. You will not turn down the voice of the workers of the free press. Maybe we will have colleagues arrested today, but we will continue to carry their cameras."

 

Reading the statement on behalf of the journalists, Etkin News Agency (ETHA) editor Pınar Gıyap said: "We hope not to be forced to show solidarity with the detained journalists again. If you want to put pressure on a society, you will first target the free press of that society. This is the most well-known feature of all oppressive regimes. Today, the current government has officially declared war on journalists in order to stifle the free press and to prevent the public's right to receive accurate information. Almost every day, investigations are launched against us journalists, our houses are raided, we are detained and threatened. Journalism is not a crime. We stand by our friends and will continue to do journalism. Whenever the sovereigns get stuck, they first attack the Kurds and the Kurdish press. Detention, arrest, closure cases and censorship have been systematically applied to the Kurdish press for years. The tradition of the Kurdish press's resistance to the attack tradition of the state continues to write the facts,"