Vice Unit Asks Female Journalist For Statement Over News Article

A female journalist has claimed that police deliberately humiliated her by bringing her to the Denizli Police Department's Vice Unit, which usually deals with cases of prostitution and human trafficking, to give a statement after two companies complained about a news article she had written about them.
The Doğan news agency reported on Tuesday that Kadriye Sözer, an editor at local online news portal Denizli Ekspress, published claims of corruption in the state-owned Denizli Transportation Company in an article last week after drivers working at the company sent Sözeri an e-mail to tip her off about corruption. The drivers also mentioned a number of problems concerning their work conditions. Sözeri then published the text of the e-mail at Denizli Ekspress.
Officials at the Denizli Transportation Company filed a complaint at a local court and police then took Sözer to the Denizli Police Department to give a statement on Friday at the Vice Unit of the Public Security Branch Office, which deals with issues like prostitution and human trafficking.
According to Doğan, Sözeri said that the police intentionally humiliated her by bringing her to the vice unit to by the police. “We have been asked the sources of our news stories on a number of occasions. However, this is the first time I have had to face this kind of treatment. It is funny that I had to give a statement at the vice unit. I asked them: ‘Why I am here? Did you catch me for prostitution?'” she said.
She then said that the government is trying to discredit journalists who oppose its policies, adding, “It is shameful to make a female journalist give a statement at the vice unit.”
Denizli Journalists' Association President Ümit Varol strongly criticized the incident in a written statement on Monday. Saying that journalists have increasingly had to face trial for doing their jobs, Varol added that he “denounced the police for taking a statement from a female journalist at a vice unit office for simply publishing a message she had received via e-mail. The act was designed to humiliate her as a woman rather than as a journalist.”

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)