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Turkey's Kurdish newspaper has been
ordered to close down once again
26.8.2010 |
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August
26, 2010
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdish Southeastern
region of Turkey, — Eser Uyansiz is the owner of
Azadiya Welat, the Kurdish daily paper which
recently received yet another closure order by a
Turkish Court. Istanbul District Court ordered Azadiya Welat
to be shut down for one month for making propaganda
for the Turkey Kurdish rebel organization Kurdistan
Workers' Party or PKK / Kongra Gel.
Life for Kurdish media has always been hard. And yet
Kurdish journalists instead of bowing to the
pressure keeps up the fight and use creativity to
counter repression. Repression which often means
been detained, beaten, and even killed.
Published in the city of Diyarbakir since 1994, the
newspaper Azadiya Welat, or Independent Homeland,
shut down for the eighth time.
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Azadiya Welat, the only Kurdish newspaper in Turkey |
This is the third shut
down verdict against Azadiya Welat since January
2010.
The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly
challenged decisions by the Turkish courts.
EU officials say the prevailing culture among judges
and prosecutors, and the severity of several
articles in the criminal code, pose serious
obstacles to Turkey's bid for EU membership.
But despite many promises, the government has so far
made little progress in reforming the judiciary.
Later last year Azadiya Welat hit the news once
again for a case or repression. Vedat Kursun,
former chief editor and licensee of the Kurdish
daily newspaper was sentenced to
166 years and 6 months in prison.
Reasons for Kurşun's conviction were several items
published in the issue of 11 August 2007. Those were
the announcement of the death of Mazhar Ilbasan,
Demirci Taştekin and Vural Soydemir, members of the
People's Defence Forces (HPG), an armed wing of the
PKK, as the result of clashes in Tunceli; a poem for
PKK members written by Nesih Özcan and a notice
saying "We are educated in front of fighters for
freedom. The Patriotic 'Norşin' in Mersin".
We asked Eser Uyansiz to tell us about the pressure
in recent years.
"As you know, Kurdish press is always under pressure
and under threat. To take a decision to publish a
Kurdish paper inevitably carries with that many
problems, from shutdowns, to concessionaire to the
editor and heavy fines. Not to mention prison
sentences, as in the case of Vedat Kursun and Ozan
Kilinc. They are in Diyarbakir D type jail.
Newspaper distributors are constantly harassed and
threatened by police.
Can you tell us about the last closure order
Lawsuits against us are generally brought referring
to the TMK(Anti-Terrorism Law). Our newspaper was
closed down 7 times. Almost everything published in
the newspaper is considered a crime. If we want to
give examples, it is a crime writing about the
leader of Kurdish People, the leader of KCK, the
leader of PKK, Mr.Abdullah Ocalan, HPG, PKK, KCK,www.ekurd.netPJAK,
PAJK, Guerrilla, Martyr, Kurdistan, Amed, Photo of
Ocalan, Guerrilla, articles and interviews..
virtually everything relating to the Kurds and the
Kurdish issue could be considered a crime.
The last closure order against Azadiya Welat (21th
August) was motivated with what appears to be the
reason given for the most recent shutdown of all the
newspapers: to make propaganda for PKK/Kongra-Gel
Being a Kurdish journalist is difficult, being a
Kurdish journalist for a Kurdish paper even more
difficult. How young journalists come to you? Which
kind of training they have, what aspirations?
This newspaper has been published for 20 years, a
lot of workers have been killed and kidnapped for
examples the great journalist and intellectual Musa
Anter. The last is Metin Alatas (he was killed on
4th April 2010 in Adana). Volunteers and employees
are working in all areas of responsibility in the
newspaper. Age is not important to the owner of the
newspaper. All employees are experienced and have
experience. Kurdish journalists always run workshops
and a lot of work is being done in terms of
training.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, ANF News Agency | firatnews
com
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