ANKARA - CFWIJ launched a petition demanding that women journalists be safe and free on the field. Demanding support for the campaign it started with the hashtag ‘’#WeAreNotInSafe’’, CFWIJ said: ‘’We invite everyone to support women journalists and to sign to create social awareness.’’

 

The Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ) launched a petition demanding that journalists be free and safe in the field against the recent direct targeting of journalists by the police and police violence against women journalists who follow the news.

 

44 journalists were subjected to police violence

 

According to the data included in the CFWIJ's statement regarding the campaign, at least 44 women journalists have been subjected to police violence in Turkey since the beginning of the year, and three women journalists were detained in a raid on their home on the grounds of their professional activities. At least 13 women journalists were detained while following the news in the field. According to the data, many journalists were also subjected to verbal violence by the police in the field.

 

Eight women journalists exposed to violence in Suruç commemoration

 

According to the data of CFWIJ, which states that the journalists who followed the commemoration event for those who lost their lives on July 20, the sixth anniversary of the Suruç Massacre, were besieged by the police and faced physical violence, at least eight women journalists were subjected to violence by the police.

 

Violence against journalists increased by 158 percent

 

In the statement of CFWIJ, which mentioned that there has been a 158.82 percent increase in the rate of women journalists being exposed to violence, it is stated as follows: ‘’In 2021, three women journalists were detained on the grounds of their professional activities. From Evrensel Newspaper Ayşen Şahin was among the journalists whose house was raided and detained for following the student protests at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Pınar Gayıp detained for working for the opposition news organization Etkin News Agency (ETHA), and Jinnews reporter Beritan Canözer detained for a news she wrote. The life safety of women in the country, which was already under threat, was also in danger in the field. Women journalists were not only subjected to the disproportionate force of the police in the field, they were also detained. The corporate cards of most women journalists were not accepted as press cards on the grounds that they were not approved by the Presidential Communications Department. With this excuse, by intervening in the area and made it easier for them to be detained.’’

 

A call for solidarity with the hashtag ‘#WeAreNotInSafe’

 

The statement mentioned that with the circular issued by the General Directorate of Security (EGM) of the Ministry of Interior on April 27, it has become even more difficult for journalists in the field to do their job. It continued in statement as: ‘’It paved the way for one-to-one intervention in the shooting of journalists and the social movements they follow. Women journalists no longer feel safe in the field, in the area, in the institution they work in, at home. They become unable to do their job due to being beaten by the police while following the news, raiding their house after their journalistic activities, verbal and physical harassment they exposed to in the field, damage to their equipment, being detained, and seeing the violence of the police. As CFWIJ, we invite everyone to our petition to stand by the women journalists who are trying to isolated by the judiciary, the state and the police. While we demand that women journalists be free and safe in the field, we invite everyone to support women journalists and sign to create social awareness with the hashtag ‘#WeAreNotInSafe’.’’