ISTANBUL- Writers, politicians, journalists and artists came together to draw attention to the oppression against the Free Press and gave the message that they will oppose the oppression with the spirit and will of the 90s.
Led by the Trade Union of Journalists, Publishing House and Printing House Workers (DİSK Basın-İş), a press statement was held in Taksim Tünel to protest the attempted kidnapping of Yeni Yaşam Newspaper distributor and the increasing pressure on free press workers. A banner reading “Journalism is not a crime” was unfurled, the issue of Yeni Yaşam newspaper with the headline “The truth will not remain in the dark” was carried and the slogans “Free press cannot be silenced”, “Pressures cannot deter us”, “If the press is silenced, everyone is silenced” were chanted.
'WE WILL STAND AGAINST OPPRESSION WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE 90S'
Yeni Yaşam Editor Zana Kaya pointed out that the oppression against the free press has been going on since the 90s and said: “The free press has gone through a very heavy process from newspaper bombings to the murder of journalists. The free press came out of those heavy processes with a clean face. It did this with its fellow journalists, comrades and the people. A lot has changed since the 90s, but since the approach to the Kurdish issue has not changed, neither has the approach to processing and communicating this problem to society. Especially recently, we have been receiving some practices and threats against the free press that remind us of the 90s. There have been kidnapping attempts, especially against distributors, reminiscent of Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-terror Unit (JİTEM) and Hizbul-contra methods. We would like to remind this once again. We will come out of those oppressive times in the 90s with the same will as we did in the 90s.”
Speaking next, DİSK Basın İş Chair Turgut Dedeoğlu said that the media is under a great threat. Noting that the government is taking repressive measures under the name of fighting disinformation, Dedeoğlu emphasized that journalism is not a crime.
OPPRESSION CONTINUES
After the speeches, Mezopotamya Agency reporter Diren Yurtsever read the press statement. Yurtsever pointed out that the peace rhetoric of the AKP-MHP government, which has been frequently voiced recently, has the opposite reflection on the field and continued as follows: “In October alone, 9 of our colleagues were prevented from following the news and faced violence and threats from the police. The work of journalists in the corridors of courthouses continued intensely in October. 104 journalists were tried in 39 cases and 11 journalists were sentenced to 19 years, 8 months and 13 days in prison. While 7 journalists were investigated, 6 journalists were prosecuted. DİSK Basın İş member Furkan Karabay experienced the injustice and unlawfulness he described in his news article. In October, 9 journalists were detained due to the government's policies, 11 journalists were subjected to ill-treatment and 7 journalists were threatened. The government, which has adopted the principle of hiding the truth from the public, is not content with this and has blocked access to 119 virtual media accounts, while many citizens have been detained on the grounds of their virtual media posts.”
'NEWSPAPER DISTRIBUTOR WANTED TO BE KIDNAPPED'
Yurtsever reminded that 5 issues of Yeni Yaşam Newspaper were ordered to be confiscated while using “peace” discourse and said: “As if this outdated decision was not enough, an access ban was imposed on the column published in the newspaper. Distributors of the newspaper were detained and subjected to threats. A newspaper distributor was targeted in Batman. People calling themselves police officers pulled guns on journalists and tried to detain Yeni Yaşam Newspaper employee Veysi Akören, but fled after the reaction of citizens and journalists in the neighborhood. Newspaper distributors in Istanbul, Diyarbakır and Dersim have been subjected to similar threats. Neither broadcast bans, nor censorship laws, nor restrictions on social media, which is now an inevitable communication network, can be the solution to the chaos Turkey is being dragged into. In fact, it will only increase this chaos even more. And we shout once again that journalism is not a crime.”
After the statement, the journalists and politicians marched in two columns and distributed Yeni Yaşam newspaper in Şişhane Square and Istiklal Street with slogans such as “Unite unite we will win”, “Free press cannot be silenced”, “Free press free society”.