DEM Party: Crackdown on the Free Press is the beginning of a new attack concept

The Central Executive Committee of the DEM Party warned that the attacks against Free Press workers in Turkey and Europe are "the beginning of a new attack concept".

The DEM Party Central Executive Board made a written statement and said, "Simultaneous operations and attacks were carried out against the Free Press in Istanbul, Ankara and Belgium at midnight and in the morning. In Ankara and Istanbul, 7 journalists working for Mezopotamya Agency and Yeni Yaşam Newspaper were detained. Belgian police also raided Medya Haber and Stêrk TV without any justification. During the raid, which lasted for hours, all official and legal documents were seized. First of all, we condemn these unjust, unlawful and piratical attacks against the Free Press."

The statement continued: "For years, every attack and operation against the Kurdish press has been an indication of preparations for a bigger and more comprehensive attack against the Kurdish people. It has been proven time and again that the efforts to silence the press, which is the voice of the Kurdish people, are aimed at making the attacks to be carried out later invisible. On 21 December 2011, only 7 days after the most comprehensive detention and arrest operation in history against the Kurdish press, the Roboski Massacre was carried out by warplanes. It is not in vain that these operations have been carried out against the Kurdish press inside and outside the country at a time when the AKP-MHP government is planning a comprehensive attack on the Kurdish people and Erdoğan is negotiating with the Iraqi government after years. Unfortunately, regional and international powers are wanted to be made a part of these attack plans.

On the other hand, it is shameful that Belgium has sacrificed human rights, democracy and freedom of the press to its negotiations with Turkey. Unfortunately, European countries have once again shown that they can bargain all kinds of humanitarian values when their interests are at stake, and that they can sell these values to oppressive authoritarian governments and become their backers. The fact that this attack was carried out on 22 April Kurdish Journalism Day is also an indication of the denialist and hostile attitude.

We warn the government based on denial and war policies: do not present Turkey's resources to regional and international powers through Kurdish hostility. All the ways and methods you have tried have failed; none of them have yielded any results, nor will they ever do so. The new policies of attack and massacre you are preparing and your efforts to silence the Kurdish press will do nothing but cause Turkey to lose. Considering the messages of "normalisation, solution, democratisation" given by Turkey’s society and the Kurdish people with the 31 March election results, desist from this attack and destruction mindset. As it has been proven many times in history, anyone who insists on a deadlock cannot escape the same frustration and fate.

We call on everyone who does not want Turkey to be dragged into a new adventure, deadlock, crisis and chaos to be sensitive to these attacks. We call for an immediate halt to these attacks and once again express our solidarity with the free and opposition press."