In the protests that started with the detention and arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, 10 journalists were detained and 7 of them have been arrested so far. Naturally, a question may come to mind, “While there are hundreds of people who have been unjustly and unlawfully arrested, do you only worry about 7 journalists among them?”
Of course, we are concerned about all our citizens who have been detained and arrested for exercising their right to protest, which is one of their fundamental human rights, and we demand their immediate release. The issue we want to draw attention to in this article is the conspiracy against journalists.
Dozens of journalists have followed the protests, which have been going on for days and attended by millions of people. When we heard the names of the detained journalists on Monday morning, it caught our attention that they were all colleagues who took photos and took images at almost all social events. It was obvious that journalists who filmed and reported on the disproportionate violence against citizens were specifically targeted, and that they wanted to prevent the images of police violence from reaching the general public and to intimidate other journalists covering the protests.
There is nothing legally justifiable about the detention of members of the press, or even their arrest. Even children now know that there can be no talk of judicial independence in Turkey. However, yesterday at Çağlayan Courthouse, the point of this strangeness was once again revealed. While we were waiting for the release of our colleagues, in a sense, the documents of the judiciary, which worked on instructions, were put in front of us.
Did the prosecutor change his decision to the order?
At 10.30 in the morning, we held a solidarity action for our colleagues in front of Çağlayan Courthouse. About half an hour after the protest, our lawyers informed us that the prosecutor would release our colleagues on the condition of judicial control. It was even said that release paperwork was being prepared for many of them. Moreover, we learned that some of our colleagues were even put in the elevator for their release. In other words, exit procedures were carried out from the detention center. About two hours later, we heard that the prosecutor had changed his mind and referred all the journalists to the magistrate’s court with a request to arrest them. Yesterday, we announced the report prepared and signed by the lawyers regarding the procedural violation of the decision change on the social media accounts of our union.
After this decision of the prosecutor, which could not be explained by law, we went to Çağlayan Courthouse again. We were shocked to see the accusation made against our colleagues after their testimony was completed in court. We experienced the worse thing when we saw the photos that were put forward as the reason for this accusation.
Yasin Akgül, Zeynep Kuray, Bülent Kılıç, Hayri Tunç, Kurtuluş Arı, Gökhan Kam and Ali Onur Tosun were alleged to have participated in the protests. They were arrested on the grounds that they violated Article 32, paragraph 1 of the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, that is, they participated in the unlawful assembly and demonstration march without weapons and did not disperse spontaneously despite the warning.
In order to support his claims, the prosecutor claims that our colleagues are activists by using photos of them preparing to take photos among the activists or while they were writing. One of our colleagues is accused of marching in front of the protesters and directing them. Whereas journalists often walk in front of the protests and try to take pictures. Because you can’t follow the news by staying in the back lines.
When they saw the photos that were put in their files as “evidence” [below], the conspiracy against the journalists was revealed. They were taken from such “interesting” angles. None of the journalists had cameras, cameras or microphones in their hands. The press cards worn around their necks were not selected. However, the photos and videos they took at that moment were used by many media organizations, especially the institutions they worked for. It was as if the police had set a trap for award-winning photojournalists with photographs. It should be emphasized that our arrested colleagues are journalists who follow news in almost all social events, and there is no possibility that their professional identities are not known by the security personnel.
We demand the immediate release of our colleagues who were conspired by the police, the prosecutor trampled on the law and demanded arrest, and the magistrates who worked like a certifying authority. We also have a call to the Minister of Interior, Ali Yerlikaya! The perpetrators of this conspiracy must be prosecuted and their civil service must be terminated immediately!
