Etkin News Agency: Release Journalists Temel, Cuştan

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Etkin News Agency (ETHA) has demanded release of its staff İsminaz Temel and Havva Cuştan, who were detained in a house raid yesterday (October 19).

The two figures were among 16 people detained last morning. In its press statement, ETHA said, “The police with snow mask storming in the house of our employees wrote ‘Bozkurtlar buradaydı (Grey Wolves were here)’ on the walls of the house just like done in the wake of the massacres in Sur, Nusaybin, Cizre. They plundered the house and burned our press card”.

Underlining that a house raid was conducted on the employees of JinNews and Mezapotamya Agency and five journalists were detained, ETHA said, “They, just like all illegitimate political authorities, want to silence the media outlets and their employees who voice the demands of the oppressed”.

What happened?

16 people including ETHA employees İsminaz Temel, Havva Cuştan ile Meral Tatar, Erkan Kahça, Nihat Göktaş, Mehmet Aslan, İlhan Aslan and Özgen Sadet were taken into custody in an operation carried out in the early morning hours yesterday (October 19). 20 houses were raided in the operation. Two lawyers and two journalists were among the detainees.

In her statement to bianet, lawyer İlknur Acar said that Uçar and Sezin, and lawyer Gülhan Kaya for whom there was a detention warrant learned that an investigation was launched into them, and then they submitted a petition to the prosecutor’s office to give their deposition.

"The Prosecutor's Office did not respond to the request they submitted, to give their deposition as a part of the ongoing investigation. Yet their bureaus were raided today", Acar said.

ESP, SGDF üyelerine ve ETHA muhabirlerinin evlerine polis baskını oldu. ETHA muhabiri Havva Çuştan'ın evine polis "bozkurtlar burada" yazdı pic.twitter.com/27v3twQxPp

— hayritunc (@hayriituncc) 19 Ekim 2017

Following the raid, journalist Hayri Tunç shared the photo of the writing on the wall. (EA/TK)

“The Grey Wolves is a Turkish ultranationalist organization.