OK, so he’s not really “our” man, he’s Inter Press Service’s (IPS’s) man in Turkey, but the articles of Jake Hess, as was reported by a number of media outlets, his writings have appeared on Antiwar.com.
But who is this 25 year old New Hampshirite and why does it matter? Jake Hess was arrested on Wednesday, nearly a week ago, on terrorism charges in Turkey.
From Hess’ writings one can see that he is passionate about human rights and critical of the Turkish government, but a terrorist? Not hardly. Still, Hess was interrogated for days by the Turkish police because his name showed up on a list of pro-Kurdish activists linked with the KCK, an umbrella group which includes a number of banned groups including the PKK.
According to Hess, the interrogations focused exclusively on his articles, including the one that appeared on Antiwar.com, and he was told he is “harming Turkey’s image” with his writing.
When the US offered to intervene on his behalf Hess really did a gutsy thing though, he told them to leave him alone. In a quote he told the diplomats “It would be hypocritical to support an American journalist who is persecuted for human rights journalism while at the same time supporting the Turkish policy of criminalizing Kurdish political activists.”
Prosecutors are seeking to have him deported from the country now, and his lawyer says he will likely be expelled in a week to 10 days. In the meantime he remains in custody in Turkey simply for writing analysis pieces that were a little too critical for the Turkish government’s taste.