Gulan Botan/JINHA

QAMIŞLO - Women journalists in Rojava, reacting to the imprisonment of our agency's editor Zehra Doğan, condemned the repression against journalists risking their lives to record the truths. The women called on all journalists around the world to speak up against the repression of JINHA.

JINHA editor Zehra Doğan had been covering the news in the Nusaybin district of Mardin province for five months when, on the night of July 21, police came to the café where she was sitting in Mardin and told her, "There is testimony about you." The police arrested her and Mazlum Kavak, advisor to HDP Mardin MP Ali Atalan, who was with her at the café. While the court released Mazlum on probation, Zehra was placed in pre-trial detention on charges of "membership in an illegal organization." The evidence given for the charges consisted of eyewitness reports and images. However, the eyewitness reports consisted of descriptions of Zehra's activities as a journalist; the images were Zehra's paintings and drawings. Women journalists in Rojava spoke to our agency to condemn Zehra's imprisonment.

"The fact that journalists are being imprisoned in Turkey is proof that the government is bankrupt," said Heyfa Musa, of Hawar News Agency (ANHA). Heyfa noted that Zehra had both written about and illustrated the events she saw in Nusaybin. "She was imprisoned by the AKP government because she exposed what was going on. The AKP is saying, 'whoever moves on my sultanate, whoever reports the truth, will be my target.'"

"The world needs to speak up about this and intervene in these events, now," said Heyfa, who called for the release of Zehra and other journalists jailed for reporting the truth.

Journalist Heyna Zebi said that the state was using tactics of repression in an attempt to break the historic struggle ongoing in cities of Northern Kurdistan, such as Nusaybin, which lies at the border with Rojava. Heyna noted the recent July 15 attempted coup in Turkey, saying it was evidence that Turkey was in a state of total chaos. "There is repression against free press workers because they express the truth about what is going on. One of these is Zehra Doğan: Zehra was imprisoned because she wrote the truth about Nusaybin," said Heyna. "They are especially trying to generate repression and fear for women. Journalists in Northern Kurdistan are writing the truth at the cost of their lives. I condemn the repression of the free press in Turkey, but condemnation is not enough; we want them to have their freedom immediately."

Mediya Henen of Hawar News Agency noted that many journalists in Northern Kurdistan had been arrested and imprisoned because they had exposed truths in the area-including Zehra, who had reported on the reality of the situation in Nusaybin. "My call to all journalists around the world is this: let them not remain silent about this," said Mediya. "We will do whatever we can; repression against JINHA is repression against us all."

(şa/mg/cm)