On the occasion of the visit to Vienna by members of the Turkish Press Council, the International Press Institute (IPI) has been informed that Turkish journalists were kidnapped on 16 October 1993 by PKK militants and presented with an ultimatum.

According to the Turkish Press Council, journalists working for newspapers and news agencies in Diyarbakir, were called to a press conference with representatives of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) The journalists were then kidnapped by armed militants and taken at gunpoint to a PKK camp. There they were told to close their offices in Diyarbakir and to cease reporting on events in south-east Turkey, where the PKK has been fighting for a separate Kurdish state since 1984. the journalists were told that they and their families would become the targets of violence if they refused to do so.

IPI, representing over 2000 journalists and editors from leading newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in 68 countries, supports the Turkish Press Council’s condemnation of these actions and calls upon the PKK to withdraw its ultimatum, which is a gross violation of the right of journalists to seek, receive and impart information regardless of frontiers. The suppression of journalistic activity in south-east Turkey would seem to contradict the intentions of the PKK, which has always appealed to the international media community for support and understanding.

IPI also urges the Government of Turkey to take all possible steps to protect the safety of both local and foreign journalists working in the south-eastern part of the country. Only then can a reliable flow of information be secured, thereby ensuring the right of the public to be informed about the real conditions in the region.