Ruşen
Çakır
20th of April, 2012
Ruşen Çakır wrote about an imprisoned reporter and the court’s blatant injustice:
20th of April, 2012
Ruşen Çakır wrote about an imprisoned reporter and the court’s blatant injustice:
I
received a letter from our daily’s young reporter Çağdaş Ulaş who was arrested
on invalid grounds for ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case. He laments about his innocence. In one word it is gut-wrenching.
Cagdaş talks about a conversation with Mustafa Özer, Ajans France Press reporter who were detained for a while and immediately released. Both of them
were convicted on the same grounds in the same inquisition. I quote him:
“I met with Mustafa Özer, where I was put in a cell at Court House to wait
for the prosecutor. He told me that he went to Kandil[1] many times, he was taken many
pictures with Murat Karayılan under the posters of Abdullah Öcalan and he said
all these photos can be found in his computer’s hard disk. He was very anxious
and saying that “I will definitely be arrested.” I told him that I felt upset to
be arrested for nothing, just due to a talk I made with someone, I was not related
with the organization and I reported many times critically about the PKK. Upon
this, he said “don’t worry, you did nothing, you are the one to be released
first.” However, it didn’t come true. He was released first, I am still in
prison!”
We know why the court immediately released Özer, as he has been working for
State Intelligence Department (MIT) for years. He was in relation with PKK and its entourage and he worked in MIT's command. But we haven’t understood the reason for Cağdaş’s arrest and
his long detainment yet. We need to go beyond submissive requests for justice. As
his colleagues we must mobilize against state’s arbitrary journalist
arrests on the pretence of terrorist activity.
Read Ruşen Çakır in Turkish here.
For Mustafa Özer's confession visit here
[1] Kandil is the name of a mountain range near the Turkey-Iraq-Iran
tripoint, where the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is known to be
based (Translator’s note).
