Mar 28, 2025
TURKEY’S crackdown on the opposition continued today as two journalists were detained in dawn raids in Istanbul.
Elif Bayburt, who works for the Etkin News Agency, and Nisa Suda Demirel, from the Evrensel news website, were the latest to be arrested in early morning sweeps that have targeted political activists, trade unionists and journalists.
“Our reporter Nisa Sude Demirel was detained by the police who came to her house at around 6am this morning,” Evrensel said in a statement.
“Demirel, who was following the [Istanbul City Hall] protests and the boycotts at the universities, was taken to the Istanbul Police Department’s Counter-Terrorism Branch office.”
The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul’s opposition Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a potential rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mayor Imamoglu was jailed pending trial on corruption charges many see as politically motivated. The government insists the judiciary is independent.
Reporters Without Borders condemned the reporters’ arrests. “There is no end to the detentions of journalists,” its Turkey representative Erol Onderoglu said.
The Turkish Journalists’ Union called for the media to be allowed to do its work and for an “end to these unlawful detentions.”
Earlier this week, 11 journalists were detained in morning raids. Although they were freed they still face charges of “taking part in illegal rallies and marches.”
Turkey’s broadcasting authority issued a 10-day airwave ban on Sozcu TV on Thursday, as well as fines and programme suspensions to other opposition channels. A reporter from the BBC was also deported on Thursday.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that nearly 1,900 people had been arrested since March 19.
At the Middle East Technical University campus near the capital Ankara, nine students were reportedly detained today.
The Istanbul Bar Association said three lawyers had been among some 100 people arrested at a demonstration in the city’s Sisli district on Thursday.
We remind our readers that publication of articles on our site does not mean that we agree with what is written. Our policy is to publish anything which we consider of interest, so as to assist our readers in forming their opinions. Sometimes we even publish articles with which we totally disagree, since we believe it is important for our readers to be informed on as wide a spectrum of views as possible.
