Imprisoned journalists Nadiye Gürbüz, Elif Bayburt and Pınar Gayıp, along with lawyer Sezin Uçar, sent a message to their colleagues on the outside during an attorney visit at Bakırköy Prison. The shared message of the four women, arrested in two separate files, is the same: "We are here because we did our jobs."
Journalist Pınar Gayıp — whose defense is being handled by MLSA — along with her colleagues Nadiye Gürbüz and Elif Bayburt, have passed the hundredth day of their detention at Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison. Bakırköy is a district on Istanbul's European side. Sezin Uçar, deputy co-chair of the ESP (the Socialist Party of the Oppressed) and a lawyer, has completed a full month at the same prison.
Meeting with attorney Didare Hazel Sümeli of the MLSA Legal Unit, the journalists repeated the message they had sent to their colleagues: "We were arrested for doing socialist journalism."
Sezin Uçar, who also met with attorney Sümeli, conveyed her message, stating that she had been arrested because of her professional activities.
In their joint message, ETHA journalists Nadiye Gürbüz, Elif Bayburt and Pınar Gayıp said: "We have passed the 100th day of our imprisonment. We were arrested for doing socialist journalism. The police summary report confirms this as well. There is an attempt to criminalize our socialist journalism through false statements with no legal basis whatsoever. When this imprisonment ends, we will continue the struggle from where we left off. Love to all our friends and journalist colleagues." ETHA is the Etkin News Agency, a left-wing outlet.
Sezin Uçar, held at Bakırköy Prison, said: "I have been in detention for a month, on the basis of statements by informants who have chosen a life without honor, because of my professional activities and my socialist identity. These hard days will pass, and we will surely meet again in the free life we deserve. Greetings to all."
Background
On Feb. 3 this year, police carried out an operation targeting the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) along with the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF), the Socialist Women's Councils (SKM), the DİSK-affiliated Limter-İş union, Polen Ecology, the Oppressed People's Law Office (EHB) and the Foundation for Science, Education, Aesthetics, Culture and Art Research (BEKSAV).
As part of the operation, police raided ETHA's office in the Aksaray district and seized the hard drives of computers. The computers and phones of numerous journalists were also taken by police.
Of the 95 people detained, 77 were arrested by the court before which they were brought on Feb. 5 and 6. Among those arrested were ETHA journalists Pınar Gayıp, Nadiye Gürbüz, Elif Bayburt and Müslüm Koyun. ETHA reporter Züleyha Müldür was released under an overseas travel ban and judicial control measures. Gürbüz, Gayıp and Bayburt were sent to Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison.
Sezin Uçar, deputy co-chair of the ESP and a lawyer, was detained on April 13 at Istanbul Airport on her return from abroad. Uçar was questioned about her social media posts, the sharing of messages sent from prison by Figen Yüksekdağ — a former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish HDP, imprisoned since 2016 — and the fee she received from her client.
The Istanbul 5th Criminal Judgeship of Peace ruled to arrest Uçar on April 15. The judgeship cited "suspicion of flight, hiding, and destroying and concealing evidence" as the grounds for arrest. In her statement, Uçar said she had returned to Turkey of her own will after learning of the investigation, and that the charges against her were devoid of legal basis.
