Turkish police held two journalists from Kurdish language broadcaster Rûdaw TV for up to 40 minutes and prevented them from interviewing supporters of a Kurdish football club after a match in İstanbul, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) reported Tuesday.
The journalists, reporter Ömer Sönmez and cameraman Faruk Uysal, were interviewing Amedspor supporters during a live broadcast following the club’s November 7 match against Galatasaray.
Rûdaw TV is based in Erbil, Iraq.
Police checked the journalists’ identities, conducted background checks and attempted to confiscate their camera, but the journalists refused to hand it over.
Amedspor is based in Diyarbakır, the largest city in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast. The club takes its name from Amed, the Kurdish name for the city. The club and its supporters have repeatedly faced racist and nationalist abuse, particularly at away matches.
Sönmez previously said he had been the victim of police violence while covering a protest outside İstanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse on April 3, 2024. MLSA filed an application with Turkey’s Constitutional Court on his behalf in March 2026, alleging violations of the prohibition of ill-treatment, freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial as well as an infringement of press freedom.
The Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), a Kurdish press freedom watchdog based in Diyarbakır, reported that 22 journalists were prevented from covering protests and public events in January. The association also documented five incidents of obstruction in September and two in October.
