Turkish police have held Kurdish journalist Haşim Abak and two others, including a 16-year-old, in custody for a third day without questioning them, the Mezopotamya news agency (MA) reported on Friday.
Abak, a reporter for MA, was detained on November 4 when police stopped his vehicle in the Nusaybin district of southeastern Mardin province as he traveled to Cizre in neighboring Şırnak province on a reporting assignment.
A woman named Necla Özgezer and a 16-year-old identified only by the initials H.T. were detained along with him. All three were taken to the Mardin Police Department’s counterterrorism branch.
Their detention was extended by one day on Thursday, but they had not been questioned as of Friday morning.
MA said the detentions followed what it described as an unfounded tip-off. Authorities have not publicly disclosed the grounds for holding the three.
The Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) said it was unacceptable to hold Abak and the two others without questioning and called for their immediate release.
Abak was previously detained on November 18, 2016, after the government appointed a trustee to run the Mardin Metropolitan Municipality.
Turkey frequently brings terrorism-related charges against journalists and media workers, including those covering the rights of the country’s Kurdish population and its struggle for recognition.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 27 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was further pointed out in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where it was ranked 163rd out of 180 nations.
