Kurdish journalist Aziz Oruç was detained by Turkish police on December 11 in Ağrı province.
According to Aziz’s wife, Hülya Oruç, he is still in police custody.
Eşim Aziz Oruç tutuklanmadi malesef yanındaki değerli ve onurlu insanlar tutuklandı hala gözaltında eşim muhtemel sonuç onun içinde aynı olcak ama gerek #azizorucgazetecidir gerekse aynı sekilde yanındaki onurlu arkadaşlar hepsini aklayacağız ✌ zaten gerçekte böyle ✌
— Hülya Oruç (@HlyaOru10) December 13, 2019
Turkey is ranked 155th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2017 World Press Freedom Index. The situation of the media in Turkey has become critical under a state of emergency declared after a failed coup last July.
According to the Turkey Purge website, based on information compiled from PEN International, the Platform for Independent Journalism (P24), the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF), the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) and the Progressive Journalists Association (ÇGD), 274 journalists were jailed in Turkey following the failed coup last year. While 163 of them are still in pretrial detention, the others were released pending trial or were cleared of charges.
Turkey’s Contemporary Journalists’ Association (ÇGD) recently announced that more than 900 press cards have been cancelled.