Working Journalists Day marked with march in Istanbul

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

Journalists, lawmakers and representatives from several press unions and organizations marked Jan. 10, Working Journalists’ Day, staging a march in central Istanbul.

Representatives from journalists’ unions, lawmakers and leading profiles from press organizations gathered at Tünel Square in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district at 12 p.m. on Jan. 10 and staged a march in protest at the imprisonment of journalists in Turkey, noting the arrest of daily Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and its Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gül.

A group of journalists from the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) and DİSK Basın-İş, the journalism branch of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), as well as several deputies from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) took part in the event.

Participants said there was no cause for celebration of the day given the pressures journalists have been subjected to in recent times in Turkey.

“We are ... postponing our celebration of the day until all journalists walk in liberty and have the freedom to write as they please,” TGS and DİSK Basın-İş said in a statement to mark the day.