Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) Co-Director Barış Altıntaş stated that 2021 was a difficult year for journalists.

ELİF AKGÜL

Istanbul - Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) Co-Director Barış Altıntaş spoke to NuJINHA about how 2021 was for journalists and press freedom in Turkey. “Although the number of journalists in prisons in Turkey decreased in 2021, journalists spent most of their time at the courthouses,” she said.

“They were tried just for doing journalism”

Emphasizing that the year 2021 started with the arrest of Mezopotamya Agency reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehirban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala for having reported on Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban, who were thrown from a helicopter and tortured by soldiers in Van province, Barış Altıntaş said, “They were released at the first hearing. They were tried just for doing journalism.”

“Indictments against journalists included no evidence”

“The number of such lawsuits hasn’t decreased, particularly against Kurdish journalists,” Barış Altıntaş said that 48 journalists are behind bars now and most of them are journalists reporting from the Kurdish region. “The indictments against them included no evidence. They were tried for doing journalism.”

“Violence against journalists has increased”

Recalling the circular issued at the beginning of 2021 to prevent journalists from filming and recording police at protests, Barış Altıntaş said, “Violence against journalists has increased after the issue of this circular.”

“If there were no journalists, we wouldn't have learned the dimension of the wildfires”

Stating that journalists are also targeted by the pro-government media and the government, Barış Altıntaş said that journalists, particularly women journalists, were targeted during the wildfires across Turkey in summer. “State officers accused them of “making Turkey look weak”. But if there were no journalists, we wouldn’t have learned the dimension of the wildfires and the inadequacy of the intervention there. We learned what happened there thanks to journalists, especially freelance journalists. Journalists continue to do journalism despite being subjected to violence, oppression, and threats.”

48 journalists will enter 2022 in prison

Stating that journalists, particularly women journalists are targeted and threatened by anonymous accounts on social media, Barış Altıntaş said, “When they take legal action against the account holders, they go unpunished due to the policy of immunity. Turkey will not enter 2022 as the country that imprisoned the most journalists in the world but journalists still face legal harassment. As we know, 48 of our friends will enter 2022 in prison.”