Turkey jails 7 journalists and media workers, places one under house arrest

December 23, 2024 – Turkey-

Turkish authorities detained several journalists and media workers in Istanbul during a protest against the killing of Kurdish journalists Cîhan Bîlgîn and Nazım Daştan, targeted in a suspected Turkish drone strike in northern Syria on December 20. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), five journalists and two media workers were held pending trial, while five others were placed under house arrest.

Among those imprisoned were Pınar Gayıp from ETHA, freelance reporter Gülistan Dursun, Hayri Tunç, Enes Sezgin, and Osman Akın of Yeni Yaşam, designer Can Papila, and Serpil Ünal from Mücadele Birliği. CPJ noted one journalist, Özlem Gürses, was specifically under house arrest. The protest was organized to draw attention to the deaths of the two Kurdish colleagues, esteemed in Kurdish media circles for their frontline work in northeast Syria.

The charges lodged against them include alleged “propaganda for a terrorist organization,” a frequently levied accusation against Kurdish-affiliated journalists. CPJ Turkey representative Özgür Öğret criticized the crackdown, warning that the government is deliberately targeting independent voices to control news about Syria’s Kurdish regions and demanded the immediate release of the detained journalists.

This crackdown occurs against the backdrop of broader media repression in Turkey, where, according to CPJ’s 2023 census, Turkey has been among the world’s leading jailers of journalists — although some prisoners have been released, many remain under investigation or house arrest. Further illustrating patterns of repression, CPJ reported that earlier in 2024, pro-Kurdish media outlets faced repeated raids and journalists were increasingly subjected to anti-terror charges, with several also under judicial control.

The recent detentions underscore the Turkish government’s expanding use of vaguely defined anti-terror laws to criminalize journalism, particularly reporting perceived as sympathetic to Kurdish causes. Press freedom advocates warn that his environment encourages fear and self-censorship, undermining Turkey’s democratic commitment to media plurality.

Unless the detained journalists are released and legal safeguards are reinforced, Turkey’s slide into authoritarian control over media threatens to erode the public’s right to information, especially concerning the country’s actions in Syria.

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Turkey jails 7 journalists and media workers, places 1 under house arrest