Beritan Canözer/JINHA

AMED - Women journalists pointed out that the pressure imposed on journalists and arrest against journalists are related to those that happen in Kurdistan. "We couldn't receive any news from banned regions without them. The freedom of our colleagues is the freedom of all of us.

Journalism organizations and journalists have strengthened their solidarity with campaigns against the power's silencing and pressure policies on journalists those who cover news in Kurdistan. Still 42 journalists, including 12 Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reporters, are in jail now. Before, journalists from metropolises of Turkey had begun "News Vigil" to support journalists in Kurdistan. Then, the Free Journalists Association (ÖGC) began "Days of Testimony" in solidarity with journalists. Journalists gather in front of Diyarbakır Courthouse every Thursday to testify for their colleagues.

İMC TV reporter Engihan Gülmez made evaluations about the pressure. Engihan said that these pressures are related to ongoing situation. She stated that journalists are trying to give the truth news to the people and journalists do their job. Engihan said, "If a journalist is in jail, the truhs remain in the dark. Our 12 friends are in jail for their efforts to reflect the true. They are in prison because they refused to be puppets of the state. The state says them, "If you refuse to do what I want, you will be in prison. However, our colleagues continued to report the news despite the pressure. I learned many things from them. Really, I don't know how we could get news from banned regions if they weren't there. That's why their freedom is our freedom."

Van TV reporter Hülya Emeç said, "There is a war and civilians are killed in this war. The main task of journalists is to convey what is happening to the public. The journalists those who report the killed civilians, sometimes are killed with civilians, too. There is a chaos in the country and the people those who want to report this chaos are blocked. This country tries to control the press like all countries in the world. There is pressure on the journalists, who work in the region."

Özgür Gün TV reporter Diren Yurtsever pointed out the pressure on journalists and said, "The violence in the country is affecting every segment. Particularly, women and children are affected more. Many civilians have been killed in Nusaybin, Cizre, Sur and Gever. Journalists were there to follow what was going on there. We wouldn't know what happened there, if journalists weren't there. Many people were killed there; however, we wouldn't know the cause of death and how they were killed. Journalists are charged with the reports they published. We condernm these arrest and pressure. We want our friends to be released right away."

(mm/gc/gd)