Kurdish journalists in southeast Turkey still uncharged after week in jail
Colleagues of 20 detained journalists say they believe their arrests are tied to Turkey’s planned military operation against Syrian Kurdish militants.
ISTANBUL — Twenty journalists from Turkey’s Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir were spending their seventh day in custody on Tuesday for unknown reasons. But press freedom activists claim it's connected to Ankara’s planned military operation in northern Syria.
The journalists were rounded up in early morning police raids on their homes on June 8. The offices of their media outlets were searched and computers and other equipment seized. Two non-journalists were also detained in the operation.
Their lawyers say they have been denied access to case documents and do not know the reason for the detentions. The detainees reportedly appeared before a prosecutor on Tuesday to give statements in their defense.
Prosecutors in Diyarbakir have placed a gag order on the investigation but official media outlets such as the state-run Anadolu Agency reported the arrests were part of an anti-terrorism operation against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
