The Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign of Özgür Gündem daily had begun on May 3, 2016 and ended on August 7, 2016. Daily was closed through the Statutory Decree No. 675 issued under the State of Emergency. Investigations have been launched against 50 of the 56 Editors-in-Chief on Watch who have participated in the solidarity campaign and 38 of them faced prosecution.
On January 18, 2018, Ayşe Düzkan and Ragıp Duran, who were tried for participating in the Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign in solidarity with the closed Özgür Gündem newspaper, and its columnists Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hüseyin Bektaş and former Co-Editor-in-Chief Hüseyin Aykol were sentenced to 9 years and 9 months of imprisonment in total.
Düzkan stated that: “As a Turk, I think the Kurdish reality is important for us. Because the demand for peace is impossible without knowing this reality. I acted in solidarity with the Özgür Gündem, not just for freedom of the press, but also to lay claim to the demand for peace. My morale is high, I am in high spirits.”
Ayşe Düzkan was referred from Bakırköy Women’s Closed Prison to Eskişehir Open Prison in May 2019. Ayşe Düzkan was released from prison on probation on June 11.
