NEWS CENTER - Stating that she has been detained for 5 months because she is a Kurdish journalist, DFG Co-chair Dicle Müftüoğlu said: "No wall can prevent us from our profession."

  

5 months have passed since the detention of Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) Co-chairperson and Mezopotamya Agency (MA) editor Dicle Müftüoğlu. Müfüoğlu was detained along with 18 people, including MA editor Sedat Yılmaz, on April 29, as part of the investigation carried out by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. Müftüoğlu was arrested together with journalist Yılmaz by the court on May 3.

 

The indictment against Müftüoğlu was prepared recently. The indictment, prepared with the allegations of "being a member of an organization" and "establishing and managing an organization", was sent to Diyarbakır High Criminal Courts with a decision of lack of jurisdiction. Since the indictment has not yet been accepted by any court, it has not turned into a lawsuit. While 41 pages of the 43-page indictment consisted of the "KCK structure", the remaining sections included Müftüoğlu's phone call with her colleagues, her going abroad and many abstract issues were the subject of accusation.

 

THE ARTICLE OF MÜFTÜOĞLU

 

Müftüoğlu, who is held in Sincan Closed Women's Prison, evaluated her 5-month detention period. Before receiving the indictment, Müftüoğlu wrote: "If the indictment is against the Criminal Code, why are we detained?" His article titled:

 

"Of course, there is no legal answer to my question. There is no legal explanation for our being detained on April 29 and arrested on May 3, and there is no legal explanation for this problem either. The indictment submitted by the Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office to the Ankara 28th High Criminal Court was rejected as contrary to the Criminal Procedure Code. It was requested that the people against whom the indictment was prepared had no actual or legal connection with each other, and that the indictments should be prepared separately and sent to Antalya, the 'crime place'.

 

It is impossible not to agree with some points of the decision. When I was detained in Amed with my journalist friend and neighborhood resident Sedat Yılmaz, we were detained with people we had never met before, most of whom we had never met on any street. Of course, just days before the elections, the Ankara Police Department created a huge sensation and had the news published by saying "the financial source of the organization was caught. The 'press', the vast majority of which are the spokespersons of the government, served it as it was without looking at the issue. The funeral prayer for news principles such as fact-checking and research for this press has already been performed. After four days of detention, we were arrested and brought to Sincan Prison Campus. The male prisoners, including Sedat Yılmaz, were brought to type F Prison No. 2, and I was brought to Sincan Women's Prison.

 

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, an arrest warrant was read on two more journalists.

 

WE ARE ARRESTED BECAUSE WE ARE KURDISH JOURNALISTS

 

As of today, the 5th month of the restriction of our freedom has passed. I know and I repeat once again that no wall will stop us from our profession. However, going back to the question in the title, we are detained because we are Kurdish journalists. We are detained because of the pen of Apê Musa, the indomitability of Cengiz Altun, the stubbornness of Gurbetelli Ersöz, and the stubbornness of the free press, which said 'This fire will burn you too' after the newspaper building was bombed. The new stories of young people who exposed the perpetrators of Şahin Öner and Kemal Kurkut, who exposed the perpetrators of N.Ç., who was raped by many people, including public officials, at the age of 13, and who won victory against ISIS, which settled like a dark cloud over the world. We are detained because we are a member of the Free Press tradition, which announces to the world the ecological destruction that took place from Cudi to Akbelen.

 

Both we and the democratic public know why we are detained. Of course, our detention is only one pillar of freedom of press and expression. Working conditions for journalists are getting harder day by day. Our colleagues are prevented from following the news, access to their news is blocked, screens are darkened, and unionized journalists are fired. At this point where the attack is so intense and comprehensive, we need the fight against it to be as united and strong. On this occasion, I once again call on professional press organizations, journalists, human rights and law organizations to fight together."