Two reporters for the Turkish branch of German newspaper Tageszeitung were detained and had their homes searched in Ankara. The arrests were part of a wider clampdown on critics of Turkey’s military operation in Syria
The German daily Tagezeitung said on Tuesday that journalists from its Turkish publication Taz Gazete had been arrested by anti-terror police.
“As we write, the Ankara apartments of journalists who took positions against the war in Afrin are being stormed and searched,” the newspaper wrote on Twitter, referencing Turkey’s decision to send ground troops into Kurdish areas of Syria.
“Among them are our writer Hayri Demir and Sibel Hurtas of Arti Gercek,” the statement continued, “in the same context the journalist Idris Yilmaz was arrested in Van and Nurcan Baysas and Ishak Karatas were detained in Istanbul.”
Taz Gazete journalist Ali Celikkan told DW that Demir and Hurtas were arrested shortly before midnight “for posting information on social media from local sources in Afrin that contained alternative rhetoric to that of the government.”
“They were also hosting online discussions featuring activists and lawmakers that are against the war.”
According to Celikkan, Taz Gazete contributor Demir and Hurtas are in a a 3-day detention period and have not been formally arrested, but remain under suspicion of “inciting the people to violence.”
“This is part of a larger wave of arrests of anyone who speaks out about peace. It’s hard to pinpoint how many have been detained, but it’s at least 50.”
For more read the full of article at The Dw
