MESOPOTAMIA Agency editor-in-chief Ferhat Celik was detained again in Istanbul today, immediately after being released from custody, and accused of “spreading terrorist propaganda.”

His home in the city’s Sisli district was raided by police on Tuesday evening as part of an investigation initiated by the Antep chief public prosecutor’s office.

Mr Celik was quizzed at Ferikoy police station before appearing in the Istanbul courthouse this morning, where he was asked to give a statement about stories published by the news agency between August and September 2020.

He was grilled over the publication of reports on the prison conditions of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, who continues to be held in isolation on Imrali island in the Sea of Marmara.

The agency reported on the launch of a campaign calling for an end to the restrictions which said that “peace is possible with Ocalan” and that the Kurdish resistance leader could end decades of conflict with “just a word.”

It also reported that his isolation is “the isolation of all Kurds” and argued that the “gates to Imrali” could be be opened by mass social pressure.

Other stories scrutinised by the prosecutor concerned allegations of police torture in the southern province of Urfa and the discovery that the Turkish military had thrown two Kurdish farmers from a helicopter and threatened to kill their relatives.

Mr Celik insisted that no laws had been broken and demanded his immediate release. The judge imposed a travel ban and freed him from custody.

However, he was immediately rearrested in connection with a separate investigation and taken to Sisli police station.

The pro-Kurdish news agency is regularly targeted by the Turkish authorities. At least 20 of its associated journalists are behind bars and others are repeatedly detained over their work.

Turkey remains the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, with a third of the global total.  Kurds are particularly targeted by the state.

In Britain, National Union of Journalists assistant general secretary Seamus Dooley called for Mr Celik’s immediate release.

“This is not the first time he has faced harassment from the authorities because of his legitimate work as a journalist and he must be set free,” he told the Morning Star.

“This is yet another example of the repression of the press and constant attacks on journalists working in Turkey, and the union sends a message of solidarity to all media workers.”