Turkish authorities have arrested Öznur Değer, a reporter for JINNEWS, over social media posts about two Kurdish journalists killed in a drone strike in northern Syria, Turkish Minute reported.
Değer was taken into custody early Friday morning in the Kızıltepe district of Mardin province when police forcibly entered her family home. Special operations officers broke down the door, handcuffed Değer behind her back and beat her before putting her in a police vehicle, the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency reported.
Authorities confiscated Değer’s electronics during a search of her home before taking her to the police department for questioning.
Following her interrogation, she was taken to court, where prosecutors accused her of “disseminating terrorist propaganda” for posting about the death of Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan, two Kurdish journalists killed in a Turkish drone strike in December. A criminal court ordered her arrest, and she was sent to Mardin E-Type Closed Prison.
As she was escorted from the courtroom, Değer shouted, “Free press cannot be silenced,” before officers covered her mouth to prevent further protests, Mezopotamya reported.
The Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), a Kurdish press freedom organization, condemned her arrest, calling it politically motivated. “Detaining and imprisoning journalists will not erase the truth. The charges against Öznur Değer are baseless and unacceptable,” the DFG said in a statement.
The arrest is part of an ongoing crackdown on Kurdish journalists, activists and politicians. On Friday authorities also detained Ali Barış Kurt, a journalist whose prison sentence for his reporting was recently upheld by Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals.
The arrests come amid renewed but opaque peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. While the government claims to be pursuing a resolution to the decades-long conflict, critics argue that the suppression of Kurdish voices contradicts these efforts.
The Turkish government has intensified its crackdown on the pro-Kurdish media in recent years, blocking access to news outlets and arresting journalists on charges of terrorism. Press freedom advocates say these measures aim to silence independent reporting on Kurdish issues and military operations in Syria.
