Jailed Turkish journalist Şirin Kabakçı, who used to be Konya bureau chief of the Zaman newspaper, Turkey’s most circulated newspaper before the Turkish government’s unlawful takeover and closure of it in 2016, stated in a letter he sent from prison that he wishes and expects all people to raise their voice and express the injustice, unlawfulness, and lawlessness targeting all journalists including himself.
Kabakçı, who has been behind bars for 17 months, is one of the dozens of journalists who were arrested in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, because they used to work for media outlets affiliated with the Gülen movement.
Stating that Konya Prosecutor’s Office has been trying to create a crime about him by showing legal and legitimate journalistic activities as if illegal, veteran journalist Kabakçı said that “I have waited hopefully for 17 months for Turkish judiciary to correct the unlawfulness targeting me. I am now at the edge of losing my hope and faith in judicial justice and the return of the law.”
“Unfortunately, our judicial system is trying to obtain an illegitimate result by showing my legitimate activities as evidence of an alleged crime and thus it tries to create a criminal from me,” said Kabakçı and added that “Moreover, this same judiciary has given negative responses to all of my petitions of appeal which I’ve written about 50 times during my 17-month stay in prison.”
The translation of the full text of jailed Turkish journalist Şirin Kabakçı’s letter is as follow:
“Esteemed reader;
I am one of the journalists, who were arrested in an undemocratic process which reduced the ranking of Turkey behind 3rd world countries in freedom of press indexes, and a Turkish journalist who has still been held in Konya E-Type Closed Prison.
I started my career as journalist at Zaman newspaper in 1990 and continued to my career in Cihan news agency between 1994 and 1997. I returned to Zaman newspaper in 1997 on the grounds that journalism in a news agency was insufficient for me in terms of professional satisfaction. I have always worked as a journalist during my whole professional life until I had to leave my newspaper on May 1, 2016. I was qualified to have national Press Card in 1994 and permanent press Card in 2012.
During my professional life, I have only been a member to the Journalists’ Association of Turkey, the Sports Writers’ Association of Turkey and, in addition, Konya Journalists’ Association during my duty in Konya province between 2009 and 2016. Upon the closure of Zaman daily’s provincial bureau in Konya at the beginning of 2016, I returned to İstanbul and started to work as an editor for the sports service of the newspaper.
I continued to work in this department until May 1, 2016, despite the seizure of the Zaman Media Group by a group of trustees appointed by the Turkish government on March 4, 2016. My professional life as a journalist was officially and de facto ended on May 1, 2016, with the termination of my employment contract with the Zaman daily after the decision of the trustees on a pretext of economic hardship.
On March 11, 2017, namely about one year after I left the Zaman daily, I was detained following the Konya Chief Prosecutor’s Office accused me of being a member of an organization only by showing my professional duty, my journalistic activities and my news stories as the Bureau Chief of Zaman daily in Konya province before January 2015 as evidence. Following the 14-day-long detention period, I was arrested by Konya 2nd Criminal Magistrate on March 24, 2017, and put behind the bars by saying that “Aren’t you the provincial bureau chief of Zaman daily?”
Esteemed reader;
The Konya Chief Prosecutor’s Office has accused me of being a “member of organization” in an indictment against me showing my following duties and actions as evidence: Taking an active role in the Zaman daily; participating in overseas travels; contacting and meeting with the some suspects, most of whom were employees and executives of the newspaper; participating in the protests against the illegal seizure of Zaman daily by the government; participating in gatherings of my friends.
However, every each of my works and actions that the prosecutor’s office has shown as evidence of my alleged “membership of an organization,” consists only of my journalistic activities which I was responsible to do in the framework of my duty. None of these has been described as a crime by the provisions of the Turkish Constitution, the Turkish Penal Code and the Turkish Press Law neither today nor between 2009 and 2016. These are also legitimate and legal activities according to the rules of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Konya Chief Prosecutor’s Office has tried to produce a crime and a criminal by showing my non-criminal professional activities as if they were evidence of a crime. By doing so the prosecutors have been violating the basic principles of universal law and Turkish national law which is saying that “no crime without a law”
As it can be seen easily, with an indictment which was written in November 2017, I was charged with being a member of the illegal organization by violating the principle of “non-retroactivity of the law” and the principle of “no crime and punishment without law” by showing my following activities as evidence: Working for Zaman daily before 2015; participating in overseas travels as a journalist to cover news stories; as a journalist contacting with some people as none of them were suspects of any crime; meeting with some people as none of them were suspects of any crime, participating in the protests organized by the readership of the daily and other citizens against the illegal seizure of Zaman daily by the government.
In the meantime, the prosecutor’s office has tailored the facts which were put in their indictment as evidence against me and thus they have been trying to generate a crime for me. In other words, they have conducted a perception operation by presenting my legal and legitimate activities and doings as if they were illegal and illegitimate.
Let me explain: Prosecutors have put only the list of those people who were presented as suspects by them and showed my contacts, meetings, and travels with them as evidence of the crime. Doing a list selectively, the prosecutors have intentionally omitted my contacts and meetings from thousands of people from every walk of life during my duty in Konya province between 2009 and 2016. However, since I was the Zaman daily’s Provincial Bureau Chief in Konya, I had meetings and contacts with tens of thousands of people including governors, mayors, district governors, executives of public and private institutions, police directors, executives of non-governmental organizations. By omitting to collect the evidence in favor of me the prosecutors’ office has neglected his duty and violated the law.
Esteemed reader;
The Prosecutor’s Office accuses me of membership in an illegal organization by showing my legal, legitimate and legal professional activities as evidence in its indictment which will be shown as an example of the travesty of the judiciary in the country in the future. Unfortunately, our judicial system is trying to obtain an illegitimate result by showing my legitimate activities as evidence of an alleged crime and thus it tries to create a criminal from me. Moreover, this same judiciary has given negative responses to all of my petitions of appeal which I’ve written about 50 times during my 17-month stay in prison.
Esteemed reader;
I have waited hopefully for 17 months for Turkish judiciary to correct this unlawfulness targeting me. I am now at the edge of losing my hope and faith in judicial justice and the return of the law. I have never written a letter to anyone or any professional organization because I had still hope for the future of Turkish justice. So, this letter is my first letter in this regard.
Esteemed reader;
I wish and expect you to raise your voice and express this injustice, unlawfulness, and lawlessness targeting all journalists who are still held in Turkish prisons due to their professional activities including me, a father and a journalist, in a more louder way at every opportunity that you find.
Best regards,
01.09.2018
Jailed journalist Şirin Kabakçı
Konya E-Type Prison, B.10″
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 236 journalists and media workers were in jail as of September 20, 2018, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 168 were under arrest pending trial while only 68 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 147 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 Jailed journalist Şirin Kabakçı: Raise your voice for jailed journalists in Turkey appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.
from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/jailed-journalist-sirin-kabakci-raise-your-voice-for-jailed-journalists-in-turkey/
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