JINHA

ISTANBUL- Police raided the office of Özgür Radyo, which was shut down by Prime Minister's decree. 16 people, including our reporter Öykü Dilara Keskin, who was in the office in order to cover the raid, have been detained.

On arriving at the radio station in Istanbul's Kadıköy district, Security and Financial Department police accompanied by RTÜK (Radio and Television Supreme Council) officials said they came there just to seal the broadcast room and there would be no detentions. As the radio authorities refused to open the door and insisted on continuing the broadcast, police stated that they would break the door if the door wasn’t opened.

Then, police broke the door of the office to get inside. 16 people, including the director of ETHA (Etkin News Agency) Önder Öner, editor-in-chief of Atılım daily and JINHA reporter Öykü Dilara Keskin were taken into custody by being battering. Staff members of the Özgür Radyo protested the raid by shouting a slogan, “Free press cannot be silenced”.

Özgür Radyo’s terrestrial broadcast has been cut off. Police closed the street to traffic and attacked the mass and detained Pınar Gayıp, reporter of the ETHA and Özge Doğan, member of the SGD.

As the search in the office continues, the obtained names of detained people are as follows;

Staff members of the Özgür Radyo: Ali Sönmez Kayar, Can Karakulak, Ardanuş Ateş, Zeynep Derya Yıldız, Arzu Demir and Nevcihan (surname has unknown yet); director of the ETHA, Önder Öner, reporter of the ETHA, Ezgi Özer; editor-in-chief of Atılım daily, Deniz Bakır; JINHA reporter Öykü Dilara Keskin; board member of the HDK (Peoples' Democratic Congress), Ahmet Ayva; members of the ESP Executive Committee, Sedat Şenoğlu.

(mg/gd)