As a government-led crackdown on critical media outlets in the country continues at full speed, Turkish police teams on Sunday detained six more journalists during simultaneous raids in İstanbul and Diyarbakır.
Pro-Kurdish Dicle news agency (DİHA) news manager Ömer Çelik was detained in Diyarbakır, while DİHA reporter Metin Yoksu and the Birgün daily’s accounting supervisor Mahir Kanaat were taken into custody in İstanbul.
Police teams raided Çelik’s house in Diyarbakır’s Kayapınar district. According to a report by the Dihaber news agency, as soon as the family opened the door, Çelik’s mother and wife were made to lie on the floor.
One of the officers reportedly dragged Çelik to the living room and began beating him while shouting: “You report the news, huh! Come on, write a report now. You are an Armenian b*stard. Come on, write a report now.”
In the meantime, another officer reportedly pointed a gun at Çelik’s mother and asked her: “Why did you make your son a journalist? Why did you permit it?”
After almost half an hour of abuse, the police handcuffed Çelik and took him to police headquarters. They also confiscated the mobile phones of all present as well as books and flash cards. Cumhuriyet reported that a confidentiality order has been imposed on the case.
One of the editors of the Diken news portal, Tunca Öğreten, was also among the detainees.
According to a news report on the DİHA website, Çelik’s house was raided by dozens of police officers in the early hours of Sunday. The house was turned upside down during the police search, and Çelik was subjected to maltreatment by the police during the raid.
(Turkey Purge)