AMED - Reacting to the raid on the studios of Stêrk TV and Medya Haber TV, Medya Haber TV editor Heval Arslan said that the attack is not independent of Turkey's war policies.

 

The studios of Stêrk TV and Medya Haber TV, broadcasting in Belgium, were raided. While the area where the television studios were located was blockaded by more than 200 police officers, the police stayed in the television building for 4 hours and seized the computers. Police also cut power lines and broadcast cables to prevent television broadcasts.

 

Medya Haber editor Heval Arslan said that more than 200 police officers raided the studios of Roj NV, Sterk Production and Hivron companies, which produce for Medya Haber TV and Stêrk TV, at 01:00 am.

 

Arslan stated that no one was allowed to enter the institution and that the doors of the studios where the TVs were located were broken. Arslan continued: “All the rooms were destroyed, all the study materials were torn to shreds. The cables were completely cut off and the television was left in a position where it could not work in any way."

 

THE RAID WAS HELD AFTER THE VISIT TO HAKAN FIDAN

 

Drawing attention to the time of the police raid, Arslan stated that it was significant that the raid was carried out after the visit of Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan to Belgium. Arslan said: "This situation is not independent of the agreements between NATO countries and Turkey. What is happening is not independent of the genocidal policies against the Kurds.”

 

ATTACK ON THE RIGHT TO RECEIVE INFORMATION

 

Arslan continued her words as follows: “Because both television channels broadcasting here are two television channels that expose the dirty policies of the Turkish state, the war and genocide policies of the Turkish state, and try to make the voice of the Kurds heard. It is not a coincidence that both of our television channels were targeted. It is completely related to the war policies of the Turkish state. It is related to the invasion attacks that the Turkish state wants to carry out against Southern Kurdistan and North East Syria. In this process, the voice of the Kurds are not wanted to be heard in any way. This is an attack on freedom of the press, freedom of expression and the Kurds’ right to receive information. This is an attack on press freedom all over the world.”