Özgür Gündem

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Özgür Gündem ( German  "Free Agenda" ) was a Kurdish-Turkish daily newspaper . It was founded on May 30, 1992 and was based in Istanbul . Due to repeated publication bans, the newspaper changed its name several times. In April 2011 it took its original name again. The newspaper was closed in August 2016 on the grounds that it was distributing propaganda for the PKK . The follow-up newspaper Özgürlükçü Demokrasi (“Freedom of Democracy”) was published from August 22, 2016 to March 28, 2018 .

Foundation phase

In 1991 initiatives began to create a daily newspaper that represents Kurdish interests. Under the direction of Ragıp Duran was özgür gündem established, which had a circulation up to 60,000. Before that, there had been some (mostly weekly) publications claiming to stand up for the rights of the Kurds in Turkey . These included:

  • Toplumsal Diriliş (Social Revitalization), publication date June 15, 1988, appeared only briefly because many issues were confiscated
  • Halk Gerçeği (People's Reality), was published from April 22, 1990 to June 24, 1990
  • Yeni Halk Gerçeği (New People's Reality), was published from August 26 to September 16, 1990, publishers discontinued publication
  • Yeni Ülke (New Land), publication date October 20, 1990, 40 of the 110 issues were confiscated. The publication of this weekly newspaper was discontinued due to the limited circulation.

Özgür Gündem was regarded by Turkish authorities as the voice of the PKK , although the newspaper reported not only benevolently but also critically about the PKK. The first editor-in-chief of Özgür Gündem was the Turkish journalist Ocak Işık Yurtçu , who was imprisoned from 1994 to 1997 for 26 articles that had appeared in the newspaper. He died on September 7 or 8, 2012.

In order to restructure the newspaper, the management stopped the publication for three months. From April 26, 1993, Özgür Gündem appeared again. During a raid on the newspaper's offices in Istanbul on December 10, 1993, over 90 people were arrested. The newspaper's offices in Diyarbakır , Izmir , Adana , Mersin and other cities were also arrested between December 9 and 11, 1993. After a publication ban by the Istanbul State Security Court on November 18, 1993 became final, the newspaper had to cease publication on April 14, 1994. Of the total of 580 editions of the newspaper, 486 were confiscated. Ten editors-in-chief of the newspaper were in custody for between two and six months . At Ocak Işık Yurtçu , the prison sentences totaled 20 years. Former editor-in-chief Şeyh Davut Karadağ was imprisoned for 38 years. He went abroad , like the former owner of the newspaper, Yaşar Kaya , who had been fined heavily.

Earlier successors

In the following years Özgür Gündem appeared under different names. This includes:

  • Özgür Ülke (Free Land), publication date April 28, 1994. On December 3, 1994 three offices of the newspaper were bombed. An employee was killed in Istanbul. The show was discontinued on February 2, 1995.
  • Yeni Politika (New Politics), she was banned as the successor to Özgür Ülke. It was released between April 13, 1995 and August 16, 1995
  • Demokrasi (Democracy), publication date December 12, 1996, was published until May 3, 1997
  • Ülkede Gündem (agenda in the country), publication start on July 7, 1997. On September 26, 1997 a ban was imposed on these and other newspapers from introducing them into the area under a state of emergency (OHAL). On October 23, 1998, the Istanbul State Security Court banned the newspaper from appearing.
  • Özgür Bakış (Open View), publication started on April 18, 1999. The newspaper appeared for 371 days up to April 24, 2000. In the judgments imposed on it, the bans totaled 390 days.
  • 2000'de Yeni Gündem (New agenda in 2000), publication start on May 27, 2000. Their publication was discontinued on March 31, 2001 for economic reasons.
  • Yedinci Gündem (Seventh Agenda) appeared between June 23, 2001 and August 30, 2002
  • Yeniden Özgür Gündem (New Free Agenda), publication date September 2, 2003, was published until February 28, 2004
  • Ülkede Özgür Gündem (Free agenda in the country), publication start on March 1, 2004. The newspaper was banned on November 16, 2006.
  • Toplumsal Demokrasi (Social Democracy), publication started on November 16, 2006. After two months, publication was discontinued on January 5, 2007.

There were also newspapers published at short notice under names such as Güncel (current), Yaşamda Gündem (agenda in life) or Günlük Alternatif (daily alternative).

It was not until April 4, 2011 that the newspaper Özgür Gündem was able to resume its work under its original name.

Law enforcement and murders of employees

On April 14, 1994, Özgür Gündem ceased to appear due to the fact that she or her employees were exposed to numerous criminal and administrative measures. Then Özgür Ülke (Free Land) appeared. On February 4, 1995, this newspaper too had to cease its publication due to several prohibition orders from the Istanbul State Security Court. In addition to countless criminal proceedings, many employees (reporters and distributors) of Özgür Gündem and the publications that followed her were murdered. 76 employees are said to have been killed in 20 years. Between May 30, 1992 and April 1994, 8 reporters and 19 distributors from Özgür Gündem were murdered.

On December 20, 2011, almost 50 journalists were arrested as part of the operations known as the Union of Kurdish Communities (KCK), including the editor-in-chief of Özgür Gündem, Ziya Çiçekçi . On December 24, 2011, 36 of them were detained. They are accused of membership and support of an "illegal organization". The human rights organization Reporters Without Borders criticized the actions of the Turkish authorities and stated that "the Kurdish question cannot be solved by trying to suppress the statements of dissidents in the name of counter-terrorism". Twelve of the 104 journalists arrested in Turkey in March 2012 are said to be employees of Özgür Gündem. On September 10, 2012, the proceedings before the 15th Chamber for Serious Crimes in Istanbul began. On September 13, 2012, the trial was suspended until November 12, 2012.

On June 20, 2016, Erol Önderoğlu was arrested in Turkey for “terrorist propaganda”.

On August 16, 2016, the newspaper was "temporarily closed" by order of the public prosecutor's office, on the grounds that it was distributing "PKK propaganda and functioning as a mouthpiece for this organization". On the same day, the police searched the editorial office in Istanbul and arrested 23 journalists and staff. On October 29, 2016, the newspaper was banned by an emergency ordinance.

Current developments

The successor newspaper Özgürlükçü Demokrasi ("Freedom of Democracy") was published on August 22, 2016 . The editor in chief was Yılmaz Yıldız. On March 28, 2018, the newspaper was placed under government administration, whereupon its publication was discontinued. With the emergency decree of July 8, 2018, the last emergency decree before the state of emergency was lifted on July 19, 2018, the newspaper was closed. Editor İhsan Yaşar and the responsible head of duty, İshak Yasul, have been in custody since April 6, 2018.

literature

  • Frank Nordhaus: “The sad world record. More journalists are imprisoned in Turkey than in China or Iran ”, in: Berliner Zeitung , September 10, 2012. (Online under the title: “ Weltmeister der Presseefeindlichkeit ” )
  • Konrad Hirschler, "Defining the Nation: Kurdish Historiography in Turkey in the 1990s," in: Middle Eastern Studies 37.7 (2001), pp. 145-166.
Hirschler's analysis uses Özgür Gündem and its subsequent publications as the primary source and contains a detailed description of the newspaper.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See a comment by Ragıp Zarakolu in Özgür Gündem from September 19, 2012 Işığı da yolcu ettik Pantheona ( Memento from April 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed October 24, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c The information is from a report in Yeni Özgür Politika from May 10, 2012 with the title 'Susturulamayanlar'ın tarihi kitaplaştı ( Memento of the original from May 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. taken. Here a book by Özgür Gündem's head of publications, Hüseyin Aykol, is reported. Accessed October 26, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / yeniozgurpolitika.org
  3. ↑ Günay Aslan published a detailed (subjective) report on the people who were involved in the publication of these newspapers on his homepage on October 16, 2012 under the title Özgür basın geleneğinde bir dönüm noktası: Yeni Ülke'nin hazırlanması ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. composed. Accessed October 26, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gunayaslan.com
  4. ↑ a b Quoted after a judgment of the Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia of January 25, 2000 the judgment is mentioned in a collection on page 479 ; Accessed October 26, 2012
  5. ↑ Turkey, Jailer of Journalists. The New York Times , July 13, 1997, accessed September 11, 2012 .
  6. ↑ See a message in Yüksekova Haber from September 8, 2012 and a comment by Ragıp Zarakolu in Özgür Gündem from September 19, 2012 ( memento from April 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Accessed on October 24, 2012
  7. ↑ Compare an article in the left-hand magazine "Arranca" (autumn 1993) Özgür Gündem. Make newspapers against death . Accessed October 26, 2012
  8. ↑ See the 1993 Annual Report of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey , Ankara June 1994, (Turkish), pp. 239–246
  9. ↑ a b See the 1994 Annual Report of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), Ankara September 1995, (Turkish), ISBN 975 7217 05 0 pp. 253–266
  10. ↑ a b See an interview with Bayram Balcı in the newspaper Radikal from March 18, 2011 İki yılda 27 çalışanı öldürüldü ; Accessed October 26, 2012
  11. ↑ See also an article on rojaislanm.com from January 1, 2006 KÜRDİSTAN BASINI 114 YAŞINDA ; Accessed October 26, 2012
  12. ↑ The Interior Minister Nahit Menteşe had previously said in an interview that he would like to close the newspaper and at a meeting of the National Security Council on November 29, 1994 a decision was made to "silence" the newspaper; see. the 1994 annual report of the TIHV
  13. ↑ a b See a report at the Kurdistan Information Center (ISKU) from Yeni Özgür Politika from March 26, 2012, ISKU ban on publication of the daily Özgür Gündem for one month ; accessed on October 26, 2012
  14. ↑ See an interview with Bayram Balci with Junge Welt on June 19, 2012, reproduced by the Peace Research Working Group "76 employees were killed in 20 years" ; Accessed October 26, 2012
  15. ↑ See the daily reports of the TIHV from 24.-26. December 2011 (English).
  16. Jump up ↑ Police Arrest 40 Journalists on Suspicion of Kurdish Separatist Links. Reporters Without Borders , December 20, 2011, accessed September 11, 2012 .
  17. ↑ See an interview on Deutschlandradio with the journalist Thomas Seibert "Many absurd aspects" in the trial against Turkish journalists ; Accessed October 26, 2012
  18. ↑ See the daily reports of the TIHV for September 13, 2012 (in English); Accessed October 26, 2012
  19. ↑ Asli Erdogan expresses what others are silent about FAZ August 19, 2016
  20. ↑ Kapatılan Özgür Gündem gazetesine polis baskını Cumhuriyet 16 Aug. 2016
  21. ↑ Gazetemize baskın: En az 24 gözaltı ( Memento from August 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Özgür Gündem August 16, 2016
  22. ↑ Başbakanlık Mevzuatı Geliştirme ve Yayın Genel Müdürlüğü (List 7). In: www.resmigazete.gov.tr. Retrieved November 3, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Özgürlükçü Demokrasi gazetesine kayyum atandı , CNN TÜrk, March 28, 2018.
  24. ↑ Erdogan dismisses another 18,000 civil servants , Deutsche Welle, July 8, 2018
  25. ↑ Özgürlükçü Demokrasi'nin İmtiyaz Sahibi ve Yazıişleri Müdürü tutuklandı , Cumhuriyet, April 6, 2018

Web links

  • Homepage ( Memento from April 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  • On 17 September 2010, Hüseyin Aykol published a list of journalists in the pro-Kurdish press who were killed under the title Onlarin Sayesinde-3 (some while practicing their profession, others after joining the PKK as active fighters). Among them were quite a few employees from Özgür Gündem.
  • An overview of the murders of journalists between 1980 and 2000 is provided by the page Killings by Armed Groups from 2007