Turkish journalists ‘forgotten in Silivri Prison’ say they expect justice

“We are forgotten journalists in Silivri Prison,” said a group of jailed Turkish journalists who were held in İstanbul’s notorious Silivri Prison as part of Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting the alleged members of the Gülen movement.

Calling for justice, the jailed 19 journalists, including Abdullah Kılıç, Ahmet Memiş, Ali Akkuş, Bayram Kaya, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Cuma Ulus, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Habip Güler, Hanım Büşra Erdal, Hüseyin Aydın, M. Sait Kuloğlu, M. Erkan Acar, Mutlu Çölgeçen, Oğuz Usluer, Seyit Kılıç, Ufuk Şanlı, Ünal Tanık, Yakup Çetin and Yetkin Yıldız have stated in a letter that they signed in Silivri Prison that “As ‘forgotten journalists,’ who are mostly reporters and who are not well-known by the public, we have been held in the Silivri Prison for more than two years. We, who have no job other than journalistic activities, want to announce that we want to be remembered and we expect justice.”

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 237 journalists and media workers were in jail as of August 15, 2018, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 169 were under arrest pending trial while only 68 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 145 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 full text of the letter signed by jailed 19 journalists is as follow:

“Forget journalists expect justice,

We are journalists who have been forgotten in Silivri Prison. We were detained on July 25, 2016, and then arrested over alleged membership to “FETÖ.” (‘FETÖ’ is a derogatory term coined by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to refer to the Gülen movement.) As 21 out of 26 journalists, we were released by a court on March 31, 2017.

However, all of us, who were released by the court, were arrested again in the same night. Immediately after, the prosecutor who requested our release and all members of the court panel, who ruled for our release, were suspended by the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK).

The members of the court panel and the prosecutor were soon returned to their duties following it was recognized that there was no mistake in their ruling. However, we have been arrested again that night and have been held in Silivri Prison for more than two years.

So far, only two journalists (Atilla Taş and Murat Aksoy) in the case file, who are known by the public, and three journalists, who had serious health problems, were released. Some of the defendants were sentenced to 6 years and 3 months, and some of them were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison by the court in the last hearing on March 8, 2018 decision. Despite the fact that all of those defendants, who were given similar sentences, were released in similar cases, no one from our case was released

Furthermore, the verdict was given by the court in the case of the columnists who used to write for Zaman newspaper, which is known as the “Main Case of FETÖ’s Media Structure”, in the same days when the state of emergency (OHAL) was ended. All of the defendants who were been sentenced for less than 10 years in prison were released in this case. Columnists Ali Bulaç, Şahin Alpay, Ahmet Turan Alkan were released and got their freedom despite they were given sentences between 8 years and 6 months, and 9 years in prison. The court decided for the continuation of the imprisonment only for two columnists in that case where more than 30 defendants were tried. 

There are no concrete charges in our files. The fact that, we were released after our first hearing in the court, has indicated this reality. However, we were not released even though we were sentenced at lower limits in our last hearing at the court.

As ‘forgotten journalists,’ who are mostly reporters and who are not well-known by the public, we have been held in the Silivri Prison for more than two years.

We, who have no job other than journalistic activities, want to announce that we want to be remembered and we expect justice.

Abdullah Kılıç
Ahmet Memiş
Ali Akkuş
Bayram Kaya
Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu
Cuma Ulus
Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu
Habip Güler
Hanım Büşra Erdal
Hüseyin Aydın
M. Sait Kuloğlu
M. Erkan Acar
Mutlu Çölgeçen
Oğuz Usluer
Seyit Kılıç
Ufuk Şanlı
Ünal Tanık
Yakup Çetin
Yetkin Yıldız”

The post Turkish journalists ‘forgotten in Silivri Prison’ say they expect justice appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.

from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-journalists-forgotten-in-silivri-prison-say-they-expect-justice/