Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned condemns the detention of journalist Aylin Duruoglu, the editor of the daily Vatan’s website, Gazetevatan.com, for the past five weeks on a charge of collaborating with an outlawed armed organisation. Arrested on April 27, she is now being held in Istanbul’s Bakirköy prison.
“Duruoglu is the victim of inexplicable judicial persecution,” RSF said. “If the authorities want to try her, they should do so without delay and ensure that the trial is fair. In the meantime, there are no grounds for continuing her arbitrary detention, which has already gone on for too long.”
In the course of major police operation on April 27, Duruoglu was arrested on a charge of collaborating with the Revolutionary Headquarters, an armed group on the Turkish government’s list of terrorist organisations, because she knew one if its alleged members, writer and former journalist Ohran Yilmazkaya. They studied together at Istanbul University and, as a journalist, Duruoglu attended the launch of one his books. She denies the charge.
Turkey is ranked 103rd out of 173 countries in the latest RSF press freedom index.
