Azadiya Welat

By Özgür Öğret/CPJ Turkey Representative

Police raid Kurdish magazine office
Police raided Istanbul office of the pro-Kurdish magazine Özgür Halk today, the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reported. DİHA reported that the raid, which was in progress at the time of publication, was related to the magazine's feature commemorating August 15, the date the banned Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) took up arms against the state. Police in the Mediterranean city of İzmir raided the magazine's office there on September 5 and arrested magazine staffer Rabia Özkaya.

New York, August 29, 2016--Turkish authorities should immediately release 23 employees of the Kurdish-language daily newspaper Azadiya Welat detained yesterday in a police raid of the newspaper's office, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

By Özgür Öğret/CPJ Turkey Representative

Government revokes press credentials for 115 journalists
Turkey's General Directorate for Press, Broadcasting, and Information (BYEGM, by its Turkish acronym) -- the bureau within the prime minister's office responsible for accrediting journalists -- today revoked the credentials of 115 journalists, Turkey's official Anatolia News Agency reported. The government alleged the journalists were affiliated with the Hizmet movement -- or FETÖ, as the government calls it - which the Turkish government classes as a terrorist group and accuses of plotting a failed July 15 military coup that left more than 200 people dead.

By Özgür Öğret/CPJ Turkey Representative

Kurdish wire reporter, newspaper employee arraigned on terrorism charges
A court in Turkey's eastern Van Province today arraigned Erdem Mühirci, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), and ordered him jailed, pending trial, on charges of "being a member of a [terrorist] organization" and "recruiting members for a [terrorist] organization," DİHA reported. Mühirci was among seven people detained from their homes in the district of Başkale in a series of arrest raids on August 21.

By Özgür Öğret/CPJ Turkey Representative

Court indicts 12 media workers on terrorism charges
An Istanbul court last night indicted 12 journalists on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization -- the Hizmet movement, which the Turkish government classes as a terrorist group and alleges orchestrated a failed military coup on July 15 - Turkey's official Anatolia news agency reported.

By Özgür Öğret/CPJ Turkey Representative

At least 48 journalists detained in one week
Police in Turkey detained at least 48 journalists in the past week, according to the independent news website P24 and the Twitter account of Ben Gazeteciyim, a volunteer association of Turkish journalists formed to show solidarity with their threatened colleagues. At the time of publication, 21 of those detained were at Istanbul's Çağlayan Courthouse being interrogated by prosecutors and waiting to see a judge. Eren Şener, lawyer for journalists Bülent Mumay and Arda Akın, told the news website Bianet that prosecutors had asked his clients about their activity on Twitter, news stories they had written, and whether they viewed the Hizmet movement, which the Turkish government accuses of orchestrating a failed military coup on July 15 that left more than 200 people dead, as a terrorist organization.

According to P24 and Ben Gazeteciyim, the 21 people at Çağlayan Courthouse at the time of publication were:

New York, February 24, 2016--A news editor for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, who had been trapped with a gunshot wound in Cizre since January 22, has died. Authorities used DNA testing to identify the remains of Rohat Aktaş, local reports said today. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. Pro-opposition and pro-Kurdish media reported that government forces denied medical treatment to those injured in clashes in the southeastern Turkish town.

New York, February 4, 2016--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of Rohat Aktaş, a news editor and reporter for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, who has been trapped in the southeastern town of Cizre with a gunshot wound since January 22.

New York, December 22, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkey to end its crackdown on the press. Since the release of CPJ's annual prison census, three journalists working for pro-Kurdish outlets have been arrested in Turkey on terror accusations, according to news reports.

Syria is the world’s deadliest country for journalists for the third year in a row. International journalists were killed at a higher rate in 2014 than in recent years. A CPJ special report by Shazdeh Omari