Turkish police detain 24 employees of pro-Kurdish paper
The Turkish Journalists' Association said Wednesday that police had detained 24 employees of the pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem newspaper a day after a court ordered its closure over allegations of involvement in "terrorist propaganda."
The association said some Ozgur Gundem workers were "ill-treated" as they were taken away. The detainees included prominent writers and journalists.
The paper said on its website that most of the workers were detained during a raid on the Ozgur Gundem headquarters in Istanbul on Tuesday. Others, including writer Eren Keskin, were arrested in police raids on their homes.
On Tuesday, a court in Istanbul ordered the temporary closure of the pro-Kurdish daily after accusing it of spreading terrorist propaganda and "acting as the de facto news outlet" for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Police also arrested four journalists working for other media outlets while they were covering the raid in Istanbul, according to the paper.
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) says Turkey has so far arrested 99 media workers.
"What just happened at Ozgur Gundem, the historical Kurdish daily in Turkey, is unacceptable. Apparently, the authorities are using the post-coup state of emergency situation to attack all critical voices," said EFJ President Mogens Blicher Bjerregard.
Ankara says the court ruling has nothing to do with the state of emergency declared in the country in the wake of the abortive coup of July 15. Over 130 media outlets have been shut down ever since.
Ozgur Gundem has been the subject of court closures and raids in the past and its journalists have been detained on several occasions.
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