Photojournalists Association of Turkey: We do not accept this unlawful decision

The following statement was issued by the association:

WE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS UNLAWFUL DECISION

The arrest of photojournalists and reporters who were on duty during the protests and demonstrations that began following investigations in Istanbul on charges of "violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations" is an unlawful, unconscionable, and absolutely unacceptable decision.

Photojournalists are witnesses to events, not subjects or parties to them. Photojournalists are journalists who document the truth with their lenses, carry what happens into social memory, and perform their duties on behalf of the public. The photographs taken by photojournalists are documents that serve as evidence. Documenting an event, the sorrows and joys experienced, on behalf of society with a camera is only possible by being physically present there.

Those photojournalists documented the scale of the betrayal during the treacherous coup attempt on July 15. They etched the pain the country experienced during the Marmara, Van, and February 6 earthquakes into memory with the frames they captured. They announced the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza to the world. They pressed the shutter during the Karabakh victory and the revolution in Syria. In hundreds of events like these, they performed their duties as silent witnesses to history.

Just as in the past, we do not accept the arrest of photojournalists and journalists—who provide history with evidence more powerful than words can describe—by disregarding the fact that they were there solely to do their jobs.

We expect this wrong decision, which fits neither universal law nor public conscience, to be reversed immediately and for our colleagues to be released at once.

Journalism is Not a Crime

Photojournalists Association of Turkey