Michelle Demishevich: “One of the police officers punched me in my abdominal cavity while I was following Sümeyye Erdoğan’s press statement.”

Source: “Muhabirimiz Michelle Demishevich’e polis dayağı!” (“Police beating to our correspondent Michelle Demishevich”), T24, 1 June 2015, http://t24.com.tr/haber/muhabirimiz-michelle-demisheviche-polis-dayagi,298422

T24 correspondent Michelle Demishevich was subjected to police violence by a plainclothes police officer while she was reporting at the press release by President Tayyip Erdoğan’s daughter, Sümeyye Erdoğan, in front of the Belgian Consulate [in Istanbul]. Our correspondent, who was removed from the area by being dragged by her hair, will be filing a formal complaint.

The AKP’s women’s branch issued a press statement in front of the Belgian Embassy in Istanbul in support of Mahinur Özdemir, an MP in the Belgian Parliament [who was expelled from her party, Humanist Democratic Centre, for acting against the party’s by-laws, which recognizes the 1915 killings of Armenians as genocide -Trans.]. After the statement, Sümeyye Erdoğan met with the Belgian Consul-General. Michelle Demishevich reported that she was prevented by plainclothes police officers during Erdoğan’s press statement following the meeting. Demishevich said: “I was about to record Ms. Sümeyye’s statement when I was shut out by a total of five plainclothes police officers, two of whom were women. Officers ignored my objections that I was a journalist. I told Ms. Sümeyye and my colleagues that I was subjected to police violence. Ms. Sümeyye said ‘please do not block the journalist from performing her duty,’ yet the police officers dragged me away from the area by my hair.”

Demishevich reported the following regarding the assault against her by the officers:

“One of the officers punched me in my abdominal cavity. I informed my lawyers Yelvi Doğan, Harika Günay Karataş, and Levent Pişkin of the incident. We will be filing a criminal complaint against the officers.”