Harassment of Kurdish journalists in Turkey – History.

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On the 3rd of December 1994, the daily Kurdish newspaper’s offices were bombed. One staff member died, and 18 were wounded in Istanbul. The editor in chief, Baki Karadeniz said, “These attacks will not silence us. Our newspapers will be published tomorrow and the days after that….” When the bombing took place, the government responded by arresting 23 Kurdish journalists at Özgür Ülke.

Following the deadly bombing, the newspaper continued to publish the next day with the headline “This fire will burn you too”.

In 1990, the Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim Akbulut said “We have decided to answer guns with guns” and on December 19th, the Kurdish daily newspaper published an article saying the Prime Minister gave the orders to bomb their offices.The deadly bombing were not investigated properly, and the perpetuators were not prosecuted. The chief Editor of Özgür Ülke daily newspaper said in 2010 “There is no freedom of speech until the perpetrators of the bombing are found”.

The Özgür Gündem was a daily newspaper in Turkey, which was published between 1990 and 1994. It was succeeded by Ozgur Ulke. The newspaper was subject to numerous attacks and harassment of journalists which forced it to close.

Among those who were subject to harassment and killed include:

(1) Yahya Orhan, who was journalist and shot dead on the 31st of July 1992.
(2) Huseyin Deniz, a staff member at the daily newspaper was shot dead on the 8th of August 1993.
(3) Musa Anter, regular columnist for Ozgur Gundem was shot dead on the 20th september 1992.
(4) Hafiz Akdemir, shot dead on the 8th of June 1992
(5) Kemal Kilic, Sanliurfa representative of Özgür Gündem, shot dead on 18 February 1993.

Attacks on Özgür Gündem which forced it to close include the following, as mentioned in European court of Human rights, case of Özgür Gündem v Turkey.

(1) On 16 November 1992 an arson attack on the news-stand of Kadir Saka in Diyarbakir;
(2) An armed attack on Esref Yasa, also a newsagent, on 15 January 1993 in Diyarbakir;
(3) An armed attack on the newsagent Hasim Yasa on 15 June 1993 in Diyarbakir
(4) On 26 September 1993 Mehmet Balamir, a newspaper boy, was attacked with a knife in Diyarbakir as he was selling Özgür Gündem.
(5) In 1993, in Ergani, boys selling the newspaper were attacked by a person with a knife;
(6) An arson attack on a newsagent’s in Mazidagi;
(7) In Bingöl, on 17 November 1992 the car of a newsagent was destroyed by fire;
8)  In Yüksekova, in October 1993, a bomb explosion damaged a newsagent’s;
(9) A bomb exploded at the Istanbul office of the newspaper’s successor Özgür Ülke on 2 December 1994, killing one employee and injuring eighteen others.