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The Grand Turk
Journalist for pro-Kurdish agency detained in Turkey
2020-12-19
[Rudaw] A journalist for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) was detained on Thursday for allegedly covering the story of two Kurdish men thrown out of a helicopter in September.

The arrest follows the imprisonment of several other MA journalists in recent months.

Zeynep Durgut and her colleague Azad Kaya, as well as Rojda Aydin and Derya Renwere, from the all-women outlet JinNews, were arrested on Thursday in the Kurdish-majority province of Sirnak in southeast The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
, MA reported on Friday.

The journalists were held at police gunpoint at the entrance to the district, according to the agency. Durgut was handcuffed and taken to Sirnak provincial police department, while the others were "insulted by police" before being released.

MA claimed that Durgut was detained due to her coverage of an incident in Van province where two Kurdish villagers were thrown out of a helicopter by Ottoman Turkish security forces during an operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on September 11.

One villager Servet Turgut, died of his injuries on September 30.

Correspondents from MA and JinNews have previously been arrested over their coverage of the incident, imprisoned in October for "reporting subversive social events."

MA’s office in Van was raided and their equipment and materials were seized, it added on Friday.

Turkey is the world’s second-biggest jailer of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ), putting 37 behind bars this year.
Related:
Sirnak: 2020-06-25 Nearly 70 Kurdish politicians, activists sentenced to up to 10 years in jail by Turkish court
Sirnak: 2019-12-10 2 Turkish soldiers killed, 7 wounded while defusing bomb
Sirnak: 2019-11-09 Turkey announces new operation against PKK in eastern provinces
Related:
Van province: 2020-12-14 Turkey confirms Iran's kidnapping of former ASMLA leader Habib Chaab on its soil
Van province: 2020-09-29 Fresh allegations about mistreatment of Kurds in Turkey
Van province: 2020-07-18 Seven Turkish security personnel die in reconnaissance flight
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