Journalist Gök: I have a clear conscience

2023-12-04 14:31:56


	 

	AMED - MA Editor Abdurrahman Gök, whose trial hearing will be held tomorrow, stated in the letter he sent: "I will be brought to the courtroom once again with handcuffs on my hands, but I have a clear conscience."

	 

	The second hearing of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) editor Abdurrahman Gök, who has been detained since April 25 as part of the investigation by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, will be held tomorrow. The case, in which Gök is accused of "being a member of a terrorist organization" and "making propaganda for a terrorist organization", is being heard at Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court.

	 

	Gök, who is a prisoner in Diyarbakır No. 1 High Security Closed Prison, responded to the accusations against him in the letter he sent to MA before the hearing and drew attention to the truth behind his trial.

	 

	'THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT ACHIEVE ITS PURPOSE'

	 

	Stating that the AKP targeted the press throughout its rule, liquidating even large media groups or turning them into "printer-clerk institutions" that they could benefit from based on their own ambitions, Gök said: "There are very few journalists left, and these, on the one hand, under political and judicial pressure, On the other hand, it is faced with economic sanctions and has to fight with them... Of course, Kurdish journalism and journalists are experiencing even more pressure than this; however, this government, which controls 90 percent of the media, cannot achieve its goal. This is why Kurdish journalists are detained, arrested, tried with heavy penalties and forced into exile. There is a reality of Kurdish journalism that writes and draws the executions, massacres, oppression, plunder of nature, usurpation of political will, and total rights violations that took place in this geography, despite all the pressures and tendencies. This poses a major obstacle to the ambitions of the AKP and its predecessor. This is why we are constantly detained and arrested."

	 

	'THE TRADITION OF DEFENDING THE TRUTH CONTINUES'

	 

	Stating that In the 1990s, when Kurdish journalists were shot in the neck and killed in the middle of the street, the next day the newspapers they worked for would publish the headlines 'Your pen will not remain down', 'The truth will not remain in the dark', and young journalist candidates would unite around that pen without fear to illuminate that darkness," Gök said: "Today, when Kurdish journalists are taken prisoner, there are young journalists filling their places, and this tradition of protecting the truth continues."

	 

	'I WILL CONTINUE MY EFFORTS TO BE A MORE CONSCIOUS JOURNALIST'

	 

	Stating that he has been struggling to be a conscientious journalist since 2002, when he started working as a journalist, Gök said: "Even though he was detained, tried and exposed to violence many times. I never thought of running away or taking a step back. Every time I appeared before the court, I tried to show my determination with my statements."

	 

	Stating that he does not have enough opportunities to work as a journalist because he is in prison, Gök said about the situation inside: “But I am also aware of this; Prisons are the mirror of a journalist. I am witnessing this with my eyes right now. I see how people are sentenced to aggravated punishments for unfounded crimes and based on unfounded abstract evidence. I hear their stories directly from them, and I witness how people who have been detained for 30 years have had their hopes of release taken away from them by the Prison Execution and Observation Boards, even though they have completed their sentences. Think about it, there are many prisoners whose sentences have been reduced to less than one year, and even their hopes have been covered with a dark curtain, and they cannot comfortably count the days until their release. Could there be a more hostile administration and orientation than this?"

	 

	Gök said the following before his hearing tomorrow: “At least the hearing days are an opportunity to see friends. Once again, I will be brought into the courtroom with handcuffs on my hands, but I have a clear conscience. See you that day…”