The Journalist Support Committee condemns the arrest of Turkish journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu

The Journalist Support Committee is following with great concern the tweet of Turkish journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu, editor-in-chief of Yakın Doğu, who wrote on his Twitter account: "I am being arrested at this very moment."

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— Alptekin Dursunoğlu (@Alptekin_D) February 29, 2020

According to follow-up sources, the Turkish journalist, Alptekin, was arrested for retweeting a post on the account of U-News Agency which dealt with the announcement of the with so-called Turkish-backed terrorists to launch a large-scale military action in southern Idlib against the Syrian army.

The Committee, while condemning in the strongest terms the arrest of the journalist by the Turkish authorities for exercising freedom of publication by re-publishing a tweet, calls on the Turkish authorities to abide fully by international agreements and covenants that emphasize freedom of opinion and expression and the need to protect the press and journalists and to neutralize them from political conflicts. The committee stresses the need to deal with journalists away from preconceived positions. The Committee also calls on the Turkish government to safeguard the right to access information and to provide it to the public with high credibility and transparency in all circumstances and conditions.

Journalists Support Committee - Switzerland
February 29, 2020