Gençağa Karafazlı is the owner, editor and a reporter for the local newspaper Nabız. He wrote a piece in his paper about the infected workers at the local Tea Office, Çaykur, a government office that buys the tea harvest from the local growers at a determined rate. The report exposed that 11 workers at the Rize tea processing plant had tested positive to the spreading disease.
The pressure on journalists from the Turkish government mounts.
Turkey tries to keep a tight lid on any news concerning the pandemic and threatens to punish any news that contradicts the official announcements.
Journalist Gençağa Karafazlı from Rize province is paying the price of being just that, a journalist who reports on the coronavirus pandemic.
He is the owner, editor and a reporter for the local newspaper Nabız. He wrote a piece in his paper about the infected workers at the local Tea Office, Çaykur, a government office that buys the tea harvest from the local growers at a determined rate. The report exposed that 11 workers at the Rize tea processing plant had tested positive to the spreading disease.
This didn’t go well with the Çaykur manager Zihni Derin who immediately alerted the Turkish authorities. The manager charged the journalist with “using a language that is generalizing in bad faith, demeaning, questioning, and not positive” in his report. The tea plant administration accused the journalist of starting a negative perception of the government operation. This complaint was sent to the police and the local prosecutor to be handled.
Turkish government is and has been sensitive to any criticism and opposition under the current corrupt AKP government. The state and judicial authorities immediately take measures to silence the opposition even the mild criticisms of the existing corruption and misinformation of the government.
The journalist is expected to be detained in the next few days for this complaint by the government official.
It was only few days ago that the same journalist had been detained when he reported that the religious pilgrims who had visited the Islamic shrine at Mecca, Saudi Arabia were returning home and bypassing all quarantines. These pilgrims were in Rize already and spreading the disease as many of them who had been tested proved positive.
Sendika.org news (M.B.)