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“We Won't Surrender”, Journalists Protest Police Brutality In Turkey

By Countercurrents.org

14 July, 2013
Countercurrents.org

Protests by different sections of society are continuing in Turkey .

Journalists in Istanbul demonstrated under the banner of the “Journalists' Platform” to protest the continual violence, pressure and threats they have faced at the hands of the police since the Gezi Park protests began.

The journalists protested the arbitrary detentions and arrests, firings and acts censorship and self-censorship that have occurred since the demonstrations began.

Police have arrested journalists even after reporters showed their official press cards, said private broadcaster IMÇ TV's Gökhan Biçici. Others complained of having their equipment seized by authorities.

ETHA news agency journalist Arzu Demir accused the police of sexually harassing her while searching her house during a June 18 raid.

The journalists marched behind a banner of penguins in a direct jibe at CNNTürk, which became the target of widespread ridicule and sarcasm at the beginning of the protests in late May when it chose to air a documentary on penguins rather than cover the demonstrations. CNNTürk's penguins were subsequently adopted as a symbol of the self-censorship that many news organizations, particularly the mainstream media, demonstrated during the initial stages of the protests.

The group began a sit-down strike after close to 100 police blocked their way toward Taksim Square with two water cannon, but the group was ultimately not subjected to any police attack. 

Before the journalists' march, activists also gathered in cities around Turkey , including Tünel on Istanbul 's Istiklal Avenue, to commemorate Dora Özer, a transsexual who was found murdered in the Aegean province of Aydin 's Kusadasi district on July 9.

Police fire water cannons on protesters

Police have fired water cannons on the several thousand protesters gathered on Istanbul 's Istiklal Avenue to protest a midnight bill adopted this week by the Parliament which curbed the supervision of the Chamber of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB) in all urban projects, giving full authority to the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry.
 
Members of TMMOB, of whom many were among the most active leaders of the Taksim Solidarity Platform that initiated the protests over the demolition of Gezi Park in Istanbul , as well as many protesters, joined the demonstration.
 
However, police did not allow the group to walk to Taksim Square after the Governor's Office refused to grant permission. Police demanded the protesters to end the demonstration after the statement, warning them that dispersion by force would be carried out against them if they failed to do so. Most of the protesters dispersed while the police chased them into the side streets, cutting off some of the pedestrian entrances to the Istiklal Avenue.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the group slammed the midnight bill, saying the government wanted to “silence” architects and engineers to prevent hurdles in grandiose urban projects. “They don't want us because we are against [Istanbul's] third bridge, because we said no to Canal Istanbul,” he said, referring to the massive-scale construction works branded as “crazy projects” by prime minister Erdogan.
 
During his speech, the crowd also chanted “no to the third bridge, no to canal Istanbul , no to crazy projects,” hinting that the demands of the protesters could widen.
 
The spokesperson also recalled that many members of the Taksim Solidarity Platform and other civil groups were harassed and ill-treated while in custody, including Mücella Yapici, the general secretary of TMMOB's Istanbul office.
 
“We won't surrender,” he said.
 
Protesters were also seen holding pictures of Ali Ismail Korkmez, the fifth Gezi protester to have died, who passed away this week after succumbing to his injuries, inflicted by assailants who beat him with sticks.
 
Earlier, mothers whose children had been detained organized a sit-in in Galatasaray Square , calling for the end of arbitrary detentions.

Photographers detained or targeted

111 photographers were detained, targeted by violence or had their photos erased by the police during the demos in Istanbul and Ankara between May 31 and July 8, the Association of Photographers has said in a report.

The report, which collects the testimonies of many press and documentary photographers, said that the largest part of the injuries were due to gas canisters and rubber bullets fired by the police during the repeated violent crackdowns. Many photographers also complained that their cameras had been broken or pictures erased.

The report stressed that the yellow press cards did not prevent, in most cases, the detention of photojournalists. Contrary to many European countries, press cards are delivered by a Prime Ministerial Office in Turkey .

Hürriyet Daily News photojournalist Emrah Güler and daily Hürriyet photoreporter Selçuk Samiloglu were among those injured while trying to cover the protests that were sparked by the attempts to demolish Istanbul 's Gezi Park .

The report also relates the experience of Mehmet Kaçmaz of the Nar photo agency, who underwent surgery after he was hit in the eyes by an object that couldn't be identified. “As I saw a [police] panzer passing in front of us, I turned my back and the barrel was then directed at us. Just as I turned to [the panzer] I heard a noise. Like a ball hitting wood. I held my eye. When I saw blood spilling, I understood I was wounded,” he said.

The injury did not cause permanent damage to Kaçmaz's health, but around a dozen protesters have lost their sight in at least one eye due to projectiles fired by the police that hit their eyes.

Families of slain protesters in meeting

Ethem Sarisülük's sister-in-law Yonca (L) hug Medeni Yildirim's mother Fehriye (R) in Diyarbakir's Lice district. DHA photo

Sarisülük's sister-in-law Yonca (L) hug Yildirim's mother Fehriye (R). DHA photo

The family of the protester who was killed in Ankara , Ethem Sarisülük visited the mother of the demonstrator shot by soldiers in Diyarbakir 's Lice district, Medeni Yildirim, in the southeastern province on July 13.
 
Sarisülük's brother Ikrar and sister-in-law Yonca met with Yildirim's mother Fehriye and older brother Ersin, expressing their condolences to each other. They also went together to lay flowers at Yildirim's grave in the Kayacik village.
 
Sarisülük was shot by a police officer during the early days of the protests in Ankara . Yildirim was protesting against the construction of a new gendarmerie post in Lice when he was also shot after the soldiers opened fire at the crowd.
 
Ikrar Sarisülük said that they wanted to come to Lice to show their fraternity with Yildirim's family. “Ethem didn't die; he went to the sun, to the infinity. They won't intimidate us. The lives that we'll lose will only make us stronger. Long live the fraternity among people,” Sarisülük said.
 
Ersin Yildirim said that they would seek justice for his brother's death. “My brother was only protesting against the gendarmerie post. He was massacred while using his most natural right.”
 
Peace and Democracy (BDP) deputy Nursel Aydogan said that people from Diyarbakir had become reconciled with Istanbul and Ankara during the Gezi protests. “People in Turkey have realized their own peace. People from Diyarbakir have reconciled with Izmir, Istanbul and Hatay during the last one-and-a-half months. That's why the [ruling Justice and Development Party] AKP's strength and the state's strength will not be enough to cut the peace among the people,” Aydogan said.
 
Sarisülük's family had participated two days ago in the funeral of the fifth Gezi protester to have died, Ali Ismail Körkmaz, who succumbed to his wounds this week after being in a coma for several weeks in Hatay.

 

 

 




 

 


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