Turkish gov’t issues detention warrants for 5 more journalists over alleged Gülen links

Turkish government issued detention warrants for 5 more journalists in the probe of Karşı daily newspaper on Thursday as part of its massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting  alleged members of the Gülen movement.

İstanbul 23rd High Criminal Court accepted an indictment against the owner of Karşı newspaper and 10 employees of the paper on Thursday and issued arrest warrants for 5 of them. The court ruled for arrest of Alaaddin Akkaşoğlu, Değer Özergün, Mehmet Aydoğmuş, Onur Kala and Murat Kazancı over their alleged use of ByLock mobile phone messaging application.

The court has also ruled for merging the file of Eren Erdem, jailed former editor-in-chief of now-closed Karşı daily and a former deputy of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) with the case. The case of Erdem has previously been tried by İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court.

The prosecutor has demanded the court to give prison sentences from 8 years and 6 months to 18 years for journalists Ufuk Emin Köroğlu and Değer Özergün, the former editor-in-chief of now-closed Millet daily, for each over their alleged links to the Gülen movement and for uncovering the identities of public officials who fight against terrorism.

Prosecutor has also demanded the court to give prison sentences from 7 years and 6 months to 15 years for journalists Alaaddin Akkaşoğlu, Mehmet Aydoğmuş, Onur Kala, Murat Kazancı and Emrah Direk over their alleged links to the Gülen movement. Prosecutor also asked the court to sentence journalist Kutlu Esendemir for imprisonment between 7 years and 6 months and 15 years over his giving support to the Gülen movement willingly despite of he is not a member to the movement.

The prosecutor demanded the court to not punish Karşı daily’s owner Turan Ababey, Emre Erciş and Mehmet Bozkurt who requested to benefit active remorse law. Emre Erciş is known with his close relations with Turkey’s notorious National Intelligence Organisation (MİT).

Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). If Turkey falls two more places, it will make it to the list of countries on the blacklist, which have the poorest record in press freedom.

Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by SCF show that 240 journalists and media workers were in jail as of July 24, 2018, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 179 were under arrest pending trial while only 61 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 144 journalists who are living in exile or remain at large in Turkey.

Detaining tens of thousands of people over alleged links to the Gülen movement, the government also closed down some 200 media outlets, including Kurdish news agencies and newspapers, after a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.

The post Turkish gov’t issues detention warrants for 5 more journalists over alleged Gülen links appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.

from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-govt-issues-detention-warrants-for-5-more-journalists-over-alleged-gulen-links/