Turkey detains American journalist and human rights activist

A New Hampshire native, a 2007 Suffolk University graduate American freelance journalist Jake Hess, 25, has been detained by Turkish authorities over charges of links to a Kurdish guerrillas.

Jake Hess moved to Turkey about two years ago as a human rights activist concerned about the treatment of Kurds in Turkey and Iraq. Hess volunteered with the Human Rights Association (IHD), a local non-governmental organization that has reported extensively on abuses committed against ethnic Kurds during Turkey's quarter-century long war with PKK, Kurdish Workers’ Party.

Hess’ lawyer said that he was detained late Wednesday on allegations of collaborating with Kurdish activists accused of having links to terrorism. The activist was taken to the headquarters of Diyarbakir's anti-terrorist unit.

Meanwhile Hess’ friends and family are joining media watchdog groups in demanding his release. Organizations including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders are urging the Turkish government to immediately free Jake Hess.

"We call for Hess's immediate release. Neither placing him in pre-trial detention nor deporting him are appropriate solutions," CNN quotes Reporters Without Borders’ statement. "Kurdish media and journalists who cover the consequences of Turkish policy towards the Kurds are too often the target of harassment, which the authorities clumsily try to justify as a necessary part of their efforts to combat terrorism,” it said.

Thousands of people have been killed in conflict between Turkey and Kurdish fighters since 1984. Kurdish rebels have been fighting for decades for the creation of an independent Kurdistan. This Sunday marked the 26th anniversary of the conflict.