President Erdoğan said "it is a threat"; then ‘street interviewers' houses were raided

A simultaneous detention operation was carried out in the houses of YouTube channel owners who made street interviews. Detention decision was made for Arif Kocabıyık, the owner of the “İlave TV”, the owners of “Sade Vatandaş” and “Kendine Muhabir” channels. Mehmet Koyuncu, nicknamed “Sade Vatandas”, announced that he was not in custody because he was not at home, but the owner of the sub-channels “İlave TV” and “Kendine Muhabir” was taken into custody. Mehmet Koyuncu said, “We are journalists trying to make the voices of the people on the street heard in the palaces.”

Last week, the presenter of the “Kendine Muhabir” channel extended a microphone to a citizen criticizing the government in a street interview in Antalya, and Hasan Köksoy was arrested after the interview. Köksoy was released after an appeal made after a while. Hasan Köksoy's house was raided once again and he was taken into custody. On his own account, which shared on Twitter, he wrote, "The police raided our house at 7 in the morning and took our computer and all our communication tools. The police have now taken my husband, Hasan Köksoy, into the vehicle and took them away... the reason for the search warrant is Mücahit Birinci."

WE ARE TRYING TO ANNOUNCE THE VOICES OF THE PEOPLE TO THE PALACES

“Sade Vatandas” Mehmet Koyuncu, whose house was raided but was not detained because he was not at home, showed the following reaction on his social media account: "First of all, endless thanks to all our people who said get well soon and stood by us. We are journalists trying to make the voices of the people on the street heard in the palaces. It is something you all know that the palace has long been is hostile to and is disturbed by the voice of the people. Day by day, they try to intimidate us with violent provocateurs, detentions and arrests, but we have not taken a step back. And we will not go back this way. It seems that the AKP government preferred to turn the situation into a tool of oppression instead of clearing its bowels. This event can be interpreted as a simple violation of personal rights, but we are engaged in journalism activities. We will be on the street today, as it was yesterday, in spite of those who say that they should eat onions and bread and shut up, make them sleep with religion, and say that you will get used to it. We will be the voice of every child who spends the night hungry. We are ordinary citizens. We are the people.”

RAID WAS HAPPENED JUST AFTER ERDOGAN’S STATMENT

In the Friday sermon read on Friday, regarding social media, "we lost ourselves by the lure of the virtual world. We could not preserve good morals in digital environments; we did not observe the right and the law. A day later, President Tayyip Erdoğan said: “Social media, which was described as a symbol of freedom when it first emerged, has turned into one of the main sources of threat for today's democracy. In the face of rising digital fascism and fake news, the developed democracies of the world like us are on the alert. At this stage, disinformation has become a global security problem by going beyond just being a national security issue. In this regard, it is important to inform the public directly, and to fight against disinformation and propaganda by revealing facts. We are trying to protect our people, especially the vulnerable segments of our society, against lies and disinformation, without compromising our citizens' right to receive accurate and impartial information." (EVRENSEL DAILY)