Filiz Deniz, who published the Öcalan transcripts, responds to accusations: A journalist is not an official of a negotiation

The debate sparked by the publication of transcripts allegedly belonging to Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the terrorist organization PKK who is held in İmralı, continues. Filiz Deniz, Editor-in-Chief of Rastî Haber, which published notes from a meeting allegedly held in February between Öcalan and the PKK leadership in Qandil, has responded to the accusations directed at them.

In the transcripts published by Rastî Haber, it was claimed that Öcalan went beyond general political assessments and openly criticized certain figures within the PKK. Following the publication, the DEM Party, the terrorist leader Öcalan, and the terrorist organization PKK separately denied the transcripts. A denial, stated to be from state sources, was also circulated via the Anadolu Agency.

In the article she published, Deniz stated that after the transcripts reached them, they worked on the documents for days and concluded that it was a "document with very high news value." Expressing that the debate turned into a matter of public interest after the publication, Deniz emphasized that in her understanding of journalism, the reader should not be seen as a passive entity that needs to be protected.

Because in my understanding of journalism, the reader is not a child whose ability to handle certain information is decided by others.

Recalling that they were accused of "sabotaging the process" due to the published documents, Deniz argued that it points to a dangerous situation when the needs of political processes, rather than journalistic criteria, decide whether a document should be published or not.

A journalist is not an official of a negotiation. Not of the state, either. Nor of a party or an organization. The journalist's responsibility is, first and foremost, to the public.

THE DEBATE ON INDEPENDENCE

Stating that they were targeted on social media following the publication, Deniz expressed that after a while, the news was pushed to the background, and the journalist became the target. According to Deniz, the debate has also brought the boundaries of independent journalism in the Kurdish press back to the agenda.

Deniz noted that state pressure has been known for years; the detention and arrest of journalists, the closure of newspapers, and the blocking of websites are all part of this picture. However, noting that explaining the issue of a free press solely through state pressure would be insufficient, Deniz said that the influence of political movements, parties, and organizations on the press should also be discussed.

The Rastî Haber Editor-in-Chief stated that if she received the same notes today, she would publish them again. Deniz expressed that the issue is no longer just about the transcripts in question, but that the real problem is "who decides what the Kurdish public gets to know and what they do not."

Deniz argued that journalism has boundaries such as human life, security, privacy, verification, and source protection; however, "political comfort" is not one of them. She stated that news cannot be hidden on the grounds that a political process might be strained or an organization might be uncomfortable.