Azadiya Welat
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Azadiya Welat (Kurdish for: "Freedom of the Country") was a newspaper in the Kurdish language published in Turkey. It was shut down on 28 August 2016 when police raided the newspaper's headquarters in Diyarbakir, taking all 27 staff into custody.{{cite news |title=Türkische Polizei stürmt kurdische Zeitung |trans-title=Turkish police raids Kurdish newspaper |newspaper=Der Standard |url=http://derstandard.at/2000043484403/Tuerkische-Polizei-stuermt-kurdische-Zeitung |date=28 August 2016 |accessdate=29 August 2016 |language=de}}
History and profile
The paper was first published as a weekly newspaper with the name Welat in Istanbul on 22 February 1992.{{cite web|title=Non-Turkish language newspapers and minority press|url=http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=322&debate_ID=4&slide_ID=6|publisher=European Stability Initiative|accessdate=18 June 2015}} In 1996 it began to be published with its current name, Azadiya Welat. In 2003 the headquarters of the paper moved from Istanbul to Diyarbakır. In 2006 it became a daily newspaper.
Its editor-in-chief was sentenced to 3 years in prison in 2010.{{cite web|title=Editor-in-chief of Turkish daily Azadiya Welat sentenced to three years in prison|url=http://www.editorsweblog.org/2010/04/08/editor-in-chief-of-turkish-daily-azadiya-welat-sentenced-to-three-years-in-prison|work=WAN-IFRA|accessdate=14 October 2014}} A journalist who was distributing Azadiya Welat was murdered in 2014.{{cite web|title="Azadiya Welat Dağıtımcısı Kadri Bağdu Öldürüldü" ("Kadri Bağdu, Journal distributed for Azadiya Welat, Killed")|url=http://www.bianet.org/bianet/ifade-ozgurlugu/159170-azadiya-welat-dagitimcisi-kadri-bagdu-yasamini-yitirdi|work=Bianet|accessdate=14 October 2014}}
Kurdish inmates in some Turkish jails were not allowed to receive the newspaper in 2007. This interdiction is justified by a reference to the law no. 5275.[http://www.justice.gov.tr/basiclaws/law_1.pdf Law No. 5275 on the execution of penalties and security measures] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722121315/http://www.justice.gov.tr/basiclaws/law_1.pdf |date=July 22, 2014 }}, 13 December 2004. In 2015, the European Court of Human Rights rules the unpredictability of how the law is applied is a violation of article 10 of the Convention.[http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-148660 Mesut Yurtsever et al vs Turkey], 20 January 2015.
References
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External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20151008011515/http://www.azadiyawelat.info/ Official website]
{{Newspapers in Turkey in languages other than Turkish}}
Category:Defunct newspapers published in Turkey
Category:Newspapers published in Istanbul
Category:Defunct weekly newspapers
Category:Kurdish-language newspapers
Category:Turkish Kurdish organizations
Category:1992 establishments in Turkey
Category:Newspapers established in 1992
Category:Publications disestablished in 2016
Category:Mass media shut down in the 2016 Turkish purges
Category:Weekly newspapers published in Turkey
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