Turkey is the top country in the world that puts its journalists in prison. Many journalists were killed or disappeared by the Turkish state for trying to uncover the truth, against government propaganda Turkish president Erdogan pledged to increase the attacks against the Kurdish population in his recent press meeting. It didn’t take long for […]
Turkey is the top country in the world that puts its journalists in prison. Many journalists were killed or disappeared by the Turkish state for trying to uncover the truth, against government propaganda
Turkish president Erdogan pledged to increase the attacks against the Kurdish population in his recent press meeting. It didn’t take long for the Turkish forces to take his words as an order. Already an additional 80 vehicle military convoy is on its way to the Kurdish province. It was only two weeks ago that a 10,000 soldier unit with 6 generals and 26 colonels were sent against the Kurds.
While the entire main stream media completely ignores the civil war in Turkish Kurdistan, the people of the region are forced into weeks of 24 hour long curfews, hunger, thirst, denial of all medical services.
It was only two days ago that a medical aid helping a Kurdish woman shot by Turkish forces was also targeted and killed by the police, all for trying to help a shot woman lying in the middle of a street.
However, the rage of the Turkish government shows itself mostly against the journalists who try to give glimpses of what is happening on the streets of Turkish Kurdistan.
Turkey is the top country in the world that puts its journalists in prison. Many journalists were killed or disappeared by the Turkish state for trying to uncover the truth, against government propaganda.
The war against the journalists hit a new low yesterday when, for no reason at all, the police arrest a cameraman for recording a march in Diyarbakir.
The Sur district of Diyarbakir has been on an extended curfew by the Turkish government for no apparent reason than being a Kurdish city. To support and show solidarity with the besieged Sur and its inhabitants, people of Diyarbakir organized a march. Government forces surrounded the marchers and started threatening them.
Reinforcements were called in to attack the thousands defying the government’s order to disperse.
The most vicious attack against the demonstrators was against those who had participated from the west of the country. The leftists and progressives had started a march to Diyarbakir, willing to walk thousands of miles to support the Kurdish population of Diyarbakir. However, as soon as the march had started the police attacked and the solidarity marchers of the “March for Peace” were forced to drive to Diyarbakir instead.
Attacking the Diyarbakir marchers, the police detained 20 people, at least two of them journalists for reporting on the event.
During the scuffle the police held the cameraman of Kurtsat news agency and channel. The police forced Mr. Oz into an armored vehicle. The news correspondent for the Kurtsat tried convincing the cops that Mr. Oz was a journalist working as a cameraman. However the police did not respond. When the correspondent tried preventing the armored police vehicle to leave, the cop drove the vehicle, endangering the correspondent’s life also. He survived only by jumping to side at the last moment.
Sendika.Org News (Murat Bay, Mehmet Bayram)
