PKK frees three abducted Anadolu Agency reporters

ANKARA

AA Photo

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has released three reporters working for Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency after abducting them in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin.

The reporters, identified as war correspondent Rauf Maltaş, photojournalist Onur Çoban and cameraman Kenan Yeşilyurt, were released to Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Mardin deputy Ali Atalan and unidentified local journalists, Doğan News Agency reported. 

Atalan then accompanied the reporters to the district governorate of Nusaybin. 

According to Anadolu Agency, the reporters were sent to Mardin’s Nusaybin district a week ago and were captured in the Yenişehir neighborhood on Feb. 19 for “recording inside the district without prior permission from the PKK.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu spoke with the journalists on the phone and extended their good wishes. 

Meanwhile, Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Ömer Çelik harshly criticized the “vile” abduction of the Anadolu Agency reporters who “chase truth in most dangerous places across the world,” by posting a tweet on his official Twitter account. 

“Targeting AA reporters is an attempt to silence the truth,” Çelik’s tweet read.