Turkish police on Tuesday detained 12 journalists working for various Kurdish news outlets in pre-dawn raids in Ankara, Istanbul and Manisa and the predominantly Kurdish cities of Mardin, Diyarbakir, Urfa and Van.
The detentions are part of an escalating campaign against journalists working for outlets that report on rights abuses particularly in the Kurdish majority southeast, including the Mezopotamya News Agency and the all-female JINNEWS. Diren Yurtsever, editor-in-chief of Mezopotamya, was among seven women who were remanded in custody today. All were brought to Ankara where they are being held at the Ankara Security Directorate’s counterterrorism branch.
