Today, the International Press Institute (IPI), PEN International, Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) and 42 undersigned organisations mark the 1,500th day of Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent’s imprisonment with a renewed call for his immediate and unconditional release.
June 15, 2020Today, the International Press Institute (IPI), PEN International, Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) and 42 undersigned organisations mark the 1,500th day of Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent’s imprisonment with a renewed call for his immediate and unconditional release.
Türfent, who was predominantly reporting on the Kurdish issues, was detained on May 12, 2016, shortly after reporting on Turkish special police forces’ ill-treatment of around 40 Turkish and Kurdish workers. They were handcuffed behind their backs before being forced to lie on the ground in the south-eastern city of Hakkari in Spring 2016. In video footage taken by Türfent and published by the now-shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency, a police officer was seen shouting to the workers: “You will see the power of Turks! What did this state do to you?” apparently alleging that the workers have links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Right after the release of the footage, Türfent began receiving death threats from the police in the form of funeral photos. An online harassment campaign was launched against him in April 2016 including death threats and insults and anonymous or bot accounts asking about his whereabouts.
One day after his arrest on May 13, 2016, Türfent was charged with “membership of a terrorist organization”. The indictment was first produced 13 months after his arrest, at the first hearing on June 14, 2017. By that time, Türfent had already been jailed for 399 days.
Of the 20 witnesses called in the ensuing trial, 19 said that their initial statements against Türfent had been obtained under torture. Yet the court sentenced him to eight years and nine months in prison in December 2017. The judicial proceedings were quick by Turkish standards and amounted to a show trial intended to punish Türfent immediately for his truth-telling journalism. Türfent was denied the right to attend his own trial in person, one of many fair trial violations. On May 21, 2019, Turkey’s Supreme Court of Cassation upheld his sentence. His case is now pending before the European Court of Human Rights.
June 21 marks 1,500 days that Türfent has spent behind bars, deprived of his freedom and the right to practice his profession – journalism. Imprisoning journalists has long since become the preferred shortcut of Turkey’s authorities to punish news they find “disturbing”. Show trials of journalists under “anti-terror law” and continued repression of especially pro-Kurdish media outlets created an immense pressure and chilling effect on the journalists who report from the Kurdish-populated areas in Turkey.
We call on Turkish authorities once again to stop this injustice!
Salil Tripathi, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee said: “Nedim Türfent should never have been detained in the first place, yet today we mark his 1500th day behind bars in this gross miscarriage of justice. Evidently, he is imprisoned for simply doing his job as a journalist, and he must be released, unconditionally and without delay.”
IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said: “For the ‘crime’ of doing journalism, Nedim Türfent has now spent 1,500 days in prison. He has been harassed, targeted, threatened and deprived of his freedom. Turkey must end this injustice and release Nedim immediately as well as all other journalists in Turkey jailed for doing their jobs.”
MLSA co-director and Türfent’s lawyer Veysel Ok said: “Nedim Türfent was detained, subjected to torture and prosecuted as a result of his reporting on the repression of the Kurdish community. Tens of witnesses were forced to testify against him. These witnesses stated that their initial testimonies were given under torture. Despite the subsequent withdrawal of their statements, the court sentenced Nedim to eight years and nine months in prison based on the initial witness statements. Nedim has been imprisoned for 1500 days for his journalism for which he should have been rewarded. We call on the ECtHR to give priority status to his application to review his case and rule on the violation of his rights. We also call on the government of Turkey to put an immediate end to this injustice. Nedim’s story is the Kurdish journalists’ story in Turkey. Therefore, we expect a long chain of solidarity to be established for Kurdish journalists in Turkey.”
The undersigned organizations call for an action to sign on to this statement. Show solidarity with Nedim by sending him your support messages so he knows that he is not alone in this injustice. MLSA has also published the poetry book of Nedim which is now available for free online.
Sign this letter, spread his work and show support!
International Press Institute (IPI)
Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA)
PEN International
Articolo 21
French PEN
German PEN
English PEN
Article 19
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Freedom House
Index on Censorship
PEN Turkey
Swedish PEN
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
P24 (Platform for Independent Journalism)
Wales PEN Cymru
Danish PEN
Georgia PEN
Lithuanian PEN
PEN Ukraine
Scottish PEN
PEN Eritrea
PEN Netherlands
PEN America
Norwegian PEN
Uganda PEN
Icelandic PEN
Swedish PEN
San Miguel de Allende PEN
Moscow PEN
Independent Chinese PEN Centre
PEN Québec
New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ) Inc
PEN Nicaragua
St Petersburg PEN
Swiss-German PEN
Kurdish PEN
PEN Suisse Romand
PEN Center for German Language Writers Abroad
Romanian PEN
PEN Belgium/Flanders
Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey – Turkish Press, Broadcasting and Printer Workers’ Union
Press in Arrest
Human Rights Foundation of Turkey
Life Memory Freedom Association
Uluslararas? Bas?n Enstitüsü (IPI), Medya ve Hukuk Çal??malar? Derne?i (MLSA) ve Uluslararas? PEN a?a??da imzas? bulunan 42 kurum, Kürt gazeteci Nedim Türfent’in cezaevinde geçirdi?i 1500 güne dikkat çekmek için bugün ortak bir kampanya ile Türfent’in serbest b?rak?lmas? ça?r?s?n? yineliyor.
A??rl?kl? olarak Kürtlerin u?rad??? bask? ve ayr?mc?l?k üzerine haber yapan Nedim, Nisan 2016’da Hakkari’nin Yüksekova ilçesinde Özel Hareket Timleri taraf?ndan 40’?n üzerinde Türk ve Kürt i?çinin ters kelepçelenerek yere yat?r?ld??? görüntüleri payla?t?ktan k?sa süre sonra 12 May?s 2016’da gözalt?na al?nd?. Nedim’in kapat?lan Dicle Haber Ajans?’nda yay?mlanan bu haberinde Özel Hareket Timinin i?çilere “Ne yapt? lan size bu devlet… Türk’ün gücünü göreceksiniz…” diye ba??rd??? görüntülendi.
Görüntüler yay?mland?ktan hemen sonra, Nedim polisten cenaze foto?raflar? ?eklinde ölüm tehditleri ald?. Ard?ndan Nisan ay?nda bir online taciz kampanyas? ba?lat?larak Nedim’e ölüm tehditleri, hakaretler ve sahte hesaplardan nerede oldu?unu soran mesajlar gönderildi.
Gözalt?na al?nd?ktan bir gün sonra, 13 May?s 2016’da “terör örgütüne üye olmak” suçu gerekçe gösterilerek tutukland?. ?ddianame tutuklulu?undan 13 ay sonra düzenlendi, 14 Haziran 2017’de ilk duru?mas? görüldü?ünde Nedim 399 gündür hapisteydi.
Aleyhine konu?an 20 san?ktan 19’u al?nan ilk ifadelerini i?kence alt?nda verdiklerini söyleyerek duru?malarda ifadelerini geri çektiler. Ancak mahkeme bu beyanlar? hiçe sayarak ilk tan?k ifadeleri üzerinden Nedim’i Aral?k 2017’de 8 y?l 9 ay hapis cezas?na mahkûm etti. Yarg?lama süresi Türk yarg? standartlar?na göre h?zl?yd? ve Nedim’in gerçekleri aç??a ç?karan habercili?ini cezaland?rma niyetiyle düzmece bir dava süreci ya?and?. Nedim, yarg?lama s?ras?ndaki pek çok ihlalden biri olan duru?malara fiziken kat?lma hakk?ndan da mahrum b?rak?ld?. 21 May?s 2019 tarihinde ise cezas? Yarg?tay taraf?ndan onand?. Nedim’in Avrupa ?nsan Haklar? Mahkemesi’ne yapt??? bireysel ba?vuru ise de?erlendirilmeyi bekliyor.
21 Haziran, Nedim’in parmakl?klar ard?ndan geçirdi?i tam 1500. gün. Bu 1500 gün boyunca Nedim özgürlü?ünden ve mesle?i gazetecili?i icra etmekten mahrum b?rak?ld?. Türkiye hükümeti yetkilileri, “rahats?z edici” bulduklar? haberleri cezaland?rmak için gazetecileri tutuklama prati?ini uzun süredir kullan?yor. Terörle Mücadele Kanunu kapsam?nda adil yarg?lanma hakk?n? hiçe sayarak yap?lan gazeteci yarg?lamalar? ve özellikle Kürt medyas?na kar?? devam eden bask?lar, Türkiye’de Kürt toplumunun sorunlar?n? haberle?tiren gazeteciler için büyük bir cayd?r?c? etki yarat?yor.
Türkiye hükümetine bir kez daha bu adaletsizli?i durdurmas? için ça?r? yap?yoruz.
Uluslararas? PEN Tutuklu Yazarlar Komitesi Ba?kan? Salil Tripathi: “Nedim Türfent en ba?ta hiç tutuklanmamal?yd? ancak bugün bu büyük adaletsizli?in gölgesinde parmakl?klar ard?ndaki 1500. gününe vurgu yap?yoruz. Nedim besbelli bir gazeteci olarak i?ini yapt??? için tutuklu ve ko?ulsuz ve ertelenmeden sal?verilmeli.”
IPI Direktör Yard?mc?s? Scott Griffen: “Nedim Türfent, ‘gazetecilik suçundan’ tam 1500 gündür tutuklu. Tüm bu süreç boyunca taciz, hedef gösterme, tehdide maruz kald? ve özgürlü?ünden mahrum b?rak?ld?. Türkiye bu adaletsizli?e bir son vererek Nedim ve i?ini yapt??? için tutuklanan tüm di?er gazetecileri derhal serbest b?rakmal?.”
MLSA E? Direktörü ve Nedim’in savunmanl???n? üstlenen avukat Veysel Ok: “Nedim Türfent, Kürt toplumunun u?rad??? bask?y? haberle?tirdi?i ve bunu görünür k?ld??? için i?kence edilerek gözalt?na al?nd? ve tutukland?. Onlarca tan?k, bask? ile aleyhinde ifade verdi. Bu tan?klar, duru?malarda i?kence alt?nda ifadelerini verdiklerini ifade ettiler fakat mahkeme buna ra?men tan?klar?n i?kence alt?nda verdi?i ifadeleri dikkate alarak Nedim’e 8 y?l 9 ay y?l ceza verdi. Nedim, yapt??? haber nedeniyle ödüllendirilmesi gerekirken 1500 gündür cezaevinde tutuluyor. Bizim A?HM’e ça?r?m?z, Nedim’in davas?n? öncelikli ?ekilde incelenmesi ve hak ihlali karar? verilmesi yönünde. Türkiye hükümetinin ise bu haks?zl???, hukuksuzlu?u derhal ortadan kald?r?lmas?n? istiyoruz. Nedim’in hikâyesi Türkiye’deki Kürt gazetecilerin hikâyesidir. Bu anlamda Türkiye’deki Kürt gazeteciler için çok geni? bir dayan??man?n örülmesini bekliyoruz.”
A?a??da imzas? bulunan kurumlar harekete geçmeniz ve bu mektubu imzalaman?z için ça?r?da bulunuyor. Nedim’e destek mesajlar?n?z? da form üzerinden payla?abilir, bu adaletsizlik kar??s?nda yaln?z olmad???n? gösterebilirsiniz. Nedim’in MLSA taraf?ndan yay?mlanan ?iir kitab?na buradan ücretsiz olarak ula?abilirsiniz.
Bu mektubu imzalay?n, Nedim’in ?iirlerini payla??n ve deste?inizi gösterin!