[JURIST] Turkish state prosecutors charged nine journalists and human rights activists with promoting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) [advocacy website; FAS profile] Monday. According to the indictment, the defendants used a Reuters reporter's observation of a PKK handover of an abducted soldier to representatives of a human rights group to create propaganda in support of the Kurdish separatists. The reporter, who argues he was simply doing his job, was detained following the incident and was among the nine named in the indictment. PKK has launched attacks on Turkish security forces in the southeast of the country since 1984, resulting in over 30,000 deaths, and has been classified by the US as a terrorist organization. While coverage of the violence is often a source of conflict between Turkish authorities and journalists, officials have increased media access throughout the country as part of its bid for EU membership [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.