The sixth hearing of the trial against 46 journalists (22 of whom are still in prison) resumes today at Istanbul 15th Criminal Court.

The 46 media workers were arrested on 20 December 2011 following the so called "KCK" (Kurdistan Communities Union) operation. In essence, the journalists are accused of being part of the so called "urban organisation" set up by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party).

The hearing on Thursday was also attended by representatives of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) and the Federation of Journalists in Europe.

The first session of the hearing witnessed the defense statements of ANF reporters Arzu Demir and Oktay Candemir.

Demir pointed out that workers of the Kurdish press have appeared at the dock as part of the government's political operations aimed at the repression of  Kurds.

Demir, ANF reporter since 2006 and editor in chief of Etkin news agency since 2011, said that she was being tried in the KCK press case because of her solidarity with Kurdish press and her stance siding by truths. She defended that the allegations put forward against her were related with her journalistic works alone.

Speaking after, Oktay Candemir said that the court criminalized all their journalistic works, and defended that the allegations didn't reflect the truth and were full of contradictions.

Candemir pointed out that the KCK trial aimed to intimidate workers of the Kurdish and opposition press who -he underlined- have paid great prices for the free press tradition since early 90's.

Reminding that 76 Kurdish journalists fell victim to unidentified murders during 90's, Candemir said the state has stepped up the unlawful arrests and trial of press workers as well as the censorship imposed on papers and magazines ever since.