Dilan Babat 

 

ANKARA - Journalist Filiz Zeyrek, who was awarded the ‘’Best Interview’’ award by the ÇGD, said, ‘’With the strength we get from Gurbetelli Ersöz and Musa Anter, we will continue our women-oriented news and our struggle against the masculine language’’.

 

The ‘’Successful Journalists Awards of the Year’’, organized every year by the Contemporary Journalists’ Association (ÇGD), were presented to their owners with a ceremony held on October 24. Former JINNEWS reporter Filiz Zeyrek was awarded in the category of ‘’Best Interview’’ with the following news of her; ‘’As long as the wars continue, we children will continue to die’’, ‘’Seher, an education worker, who dismissed with decree law: We chose to resist’’, ‘’The story of those who set out to live: Seasonal workers’’, “Ayse who earns her bread with walnuts: The struggle always continues’’, and ‘’Those who destroyed our house in the 90s have now destroyed our tents’’. Filiz attributed her award to JINNEWS. Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reporter Cemil Uğur was awarded in the category of ‘Rafet Genç News Award’ for his news about that Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut, who were detained in the operation in Van’s Çatak district in September, were thrown from the helicopter. Cemil, who was arrested after announcing the citizens thrown from the helicopter to the public and released in the past months, attributed his award to free press workers.

 

‘Mainstream media’ at work

 

At the ceremony, where many journalists, including the ‘’mainstream media’’, representatives of political parties and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) attended, the journalists who received their awards drew attention to ‘’freedom of expression and the pressures on journalists’’ in Turkey. At the ceremony, awarding MA and JINNEWS was cited as a target by the ‘’mainstream media’’. CHP Manisa MP Özgür Özel, HDP Mardin MP and Party Spokesperson Ebru Günay and Turkish Medical Assocaiton (TTB) Central Council Chair Şebnem Korur Fincancı were among the names targeted by the mainstream media.

 

Free press targeted

 

Awards given to JINNEWS, MA and participants were targeted by Yeni Şafak newspaper, Haber7.com, TRT News, A News, Beyaz Gazette, Akşam newspaper and Veryansın TV channel. The media organs in question targeted free press workers by reminding the award given to Güler Yıldız from Jin TV in the category of ‘’International Television Journalism’’ at the ‘’Press Awards’’ ceremony, which was held for the sixth time by the Chamber of Architects in the past weeks. 

 

Journalist Filiz Zeyrek, who received an award in the ‘’Best Interview’’ category, made evaluations about the mainstream media targeting the free press and the award given to her.

 

‘Women journalists should receive more awards’

 

Stating that she received the award on behalf of JINNEWS and women journalists, Filiz expressed that she was happy on one side and feel resentment on the other. Filiz said, ‘’I and all women journalists like me had to leave my country because of the news we made. I am currently in exile. My agency representing me took the award on my behalf and I am very happy about it. While it is difficult to be a woman in Turkey, it is twice as difficult to be a woman journalist. As women journalists in Turkey, we carry out our job very difficult. This sometimes brings with it detention, arrest and exile. I think women should receive more awards in press awards. Because women put more effort in the field and work with devotion. As women journalists in a place like Turkey, we work against practices ranging from physical violence to harassment’’.

 

‘The free press really scares the government’

 

Referring to the fact that the awards given by the Contemporary Journalists’ Association are targeted by the mainstream media, Filiz continued: ‘’The fact that the mainstream media is targeting so much means that we have achieved great works. Since the AKP and MHP fascism came to power, there has been serious pressure on the free press. Even the CHP and HDP coming together at an award ceremony is perceived in a different way. 

 

We knew about these attacks before and we were not surprised. We do not care if the mainstream media targets us and declares us ‘terrorist’. Because we do public journalism and what we do is known by the public. I worked in a women’s news agency for almost eight years. In many of the news I went to, we could not see Yeni Şafak or other media at the side of public. They have no duties other than sitting in their offices and being a hitperson for the palace. The free press really scares the government. We are the ones who disperse the rats that accumulate in the sewers’’.

 

‘We will continue with the strength we get from Gurbetelli Ersöz’

 

Noting that as workers of the free press, they set out knowing the injustices and unlawfulness in Turkey, Filiz finally said, ‘’We are not afraid, we will continue this struggle no matter what comes our way, no matter what the conditions are. With the strength we get from Gurbetelli Ersöz and Musa Anter, we will continue our women-oriented news and our struggle against masculine language. My name may be mentioned in the award, but it is an award that is received with the strength of women’’.