ISTANBUL - Stating that the Kurdish media, which plays a very important role for everyone, Journalist Ragıp Duran said: "The Kurdish media disturbs the government when it writes news stories that will broaden people's horizons. This is the period when the most journalists are in prison in Turkey."

 

July 24 is celebrated as the anniversary of the abolition of censorship in Turkey. On July 24, 1908, when the Constitutional Monarchy was declared, the journalists decided not to show their newspapers to the censorship board and not to let the censors in their offices. The date of this event, July 24, was declared as the Day of Struggle for Freedom of the Press in 1948 by the decision of the Journalists Association of Turkey. Journalists enter the July 24th, also known as the Press Feast, by fighting against censorship and oppression.

 

Pressure, censorship and arrests against journalists are increasing day by day in Turkey, which ranks towards the bottom in the world press freedom list. The censorship law, introduced during the reign of the second Abdülhamit who started the period of oppression, is to be reintroduced by the government after 114 years. In addition to censorship, journalists in Turkey are faced with arrest, detention and unemployment. According to the June report of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), with the arrest of 16 journalists in Diyarbakır, the number of journalists imprisoned in prisons rose to 76.

 

Journalist Ragıp Duran evaluated the point of press freedom in Turkey from past to present.

 

A PERIOD WHEN THE NUMBER OF IMPRISONED JOURNALISTS SKY ROCKETED

 

Stating that the high number of journalists in prison in a country shows that there is no freedom of the press in that country, Duran said: "Since 1831, this was the period when the number of imrpsioned journalists sky rocketed in Turkey. Nearly 200 newspapers, radios, televisions, magazines and online news outlets were shut down, especially after the July 15 coup attempt. There is no freedom of the press in Turkey. If there is more than 50 percent propaganda for the government in the content of the broadcasts of the existing media organs in a country, it is proof that there is no freedom of the press in this country."

 

'THERE IS A FASCIST APPROACH'

 

Stating that censorship was abolished by journalists in 1908, Duran said: "The censorship law, introduced during the reign of the second Abdülhamit who started the period of oppression, is to be reintroduced by the government after 114 years. There was always censorship in Turkey. The government says that if the intention of the social media messages is to disrupt national unity, the person who writes that can be sentenced up to 12 months in prison.  The state will look for intent in the messages. This is a completely fascist approach. They realized that social media is much more effective than pro-government media. The govenment is trying to control social media. This law is a text prepared for pressuring people who disturb the government."

 

THE GOVERNMENT OPERATES ILLEGALLY

 

Stating that the government could not prevent its collapse with the censorship law, but could only delay it, Duran said: “In Turkey, there is a regime and regime problems that should be tried under very heavy accusations when the current government loses power. Those in power don't want to risk it. In order to maintain their power, they are making such attempts to silence the opposition against them, to prevent their own illegal and illegitimate activities from being made known to the public.”

 

'KURDS STRUGGLE AGAINST THE POLICY OF TURKISH STATE'

 

Stating that the Kurdish political presence and actions in Turkey are very different from all other dissidents, Duran said: "The Kurds have been in irreconcilable conflict with the Turkish state,  especially since 1925 because the Kurdish political entity is against the essence of the Turkish government. The Turkish state is a state that denies and does not recognize the Kurdish existence. Regarding the Kurdish issue, other parties in the country like CHP, IYI Party and DEVA do not think differently from the government. The opposition of the Kurds is not conjectural. Due to the current political environment, Kurds struggle against the policy of the Turkish state."

 

'KURDISH MEDIA IS DISTURBING THE GOVERNMENT'

 

Stating that Kurdish media that is not affiliated with the official opposition and is independent of them, it inevitably disturbs the government, Duran said: "It is perfectly normal for the Kurdish media to disturb the government because it reveals the intense pressure and persecution in the region, and exhibits them with photographs, details and documents. It is a very weak situation for the government that 16 Kurdish journalists arrested in Diyarbakır are accused of 'being members of an terrorist organisation'. If exposing and opposing the pressures of the military, police and gendarmerie counts as 'membership in an terrorist organisation', that is another matter. It shows how dangerous the Kurdish media is for the government, to remove our colleagues who have successfully done their job despite preventing and imprisoning them. Despite of these pressures, the struggle for freedom of the press needs to be broadened.”