Journalist İzgen Gökçe detained by Turkish police in Bartın province

Journalist İzgen Gökçe, an editor of İleri Haber, was detained by police in Turkey’s Bartın province on Tuesday. During the raid the apartment of Gökçe, the police have seized a cell phone and computer belonging to the journalist, reported by Bianet.

According to İleri Haber, as a part of the same investigation, police raided the houses of four members of the Turkey Communist Party (TKP) and a member of Federation of Opinion Clubs (FKF) for whom detention warrants were issued previously. The names suspects have not been announced to the public yet.

Relesing a statement İleri Haber has stated over journalist İzgen Gökçe’s detention that “Our colleague and journalism student İzgen Gökçe has not done except practising journalism. The detention of Gökçe has showed that journalism is seen as the greatest threat by those in power who have based their authority on lies. İzgen Gökçe is a journalist and she must be released.”

Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) has showed that 277 journalists and media workers are now in jails as of August 15, 2017, most in pre-trial detention languishing in notorious Turkish prisons without even a conviction. Of those in Turkish prisons, 252 are arrested pending trial, only 25 journalists remain convicted and serving time in Turkish prisons. An outstanding detention warrants remain for 135 journalists who live in exile or remain at large in Turkey.

Detaining tens of thousands of people over alleged links to the movement, the government also closed down more than 180 media outlets after the controversial coup attempt. Turkey’s Contemporary Journalists’ Association (ÇGD) recently announced that more than 900 press cards were cancelled.

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