Journalists in State of Emergency – 127

 
 
Cumhuriyet daily’s imprisoned editor in chief and P24’s founding member Murat Sabuncu and reporter Ahmet Şık, on March 9, 2018, were released after nearly 500 days in pretrial detention pending the conclusion of the ongoing trial into 20 journalists and executives of the newspaper.
 
For a detailed coverage of the March 9 hearing, monitored by P24 in the courtroom in Silivri, click here.
 
One acquitted, 25 journalists convicted in major media trial
 
Twenty-five journalists were handed down prison sentences between two years and seven-and-a-half years at the March 8 hearing of the case publicly known as the “FETÖ media trial,” in which 26 suspects including journalist-columnist Murat Aksoy and musician-turned-columnist Atilla Taş faced “membership in a terrorist organization” charges.
 
A detailed report of the two-day hearing, monitored by P24 in the courtroom, can be found here (link gelecek).
 
Indictment against Seda Taşkın issued
 
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Muş has issued the indictment against Seda Taşkın, a reporter for the Mezopotamya news agency who is under arrest since January 22, 2018.
 
Taşkın is accused with “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “membership in a terrorist organization” in the 47-page indictment, accepted by the 2nd High Criminal Court of Muş. In the indictment, Taşkın’s phone conversations with her news sources, her news reports and social media posts are shown as evidence for the accusations against the journalist.
 
Taşkın will appear before a court for the first hearing of this case on April 30.
 
Taşkın was initially taken into custody on December 20, 2017, in Muş on account of an anonymous tip, after which she was released under judicial control terms. The prosecutor objected to her release, leading to Taşkın’s re-arrest on January 22 in Ankara, where she gave her statement via the courtroom video-conferencing system SEGBİS to a court in Bitlis, which ruled to jail Taşkın on “membership in a terrorist organization” charges pending trial.
 
Taşkın has since been in detention on remand in the Sincan Women’s Prison in Ankara.
 
Supreme Court of Appeals reverses Can Dündar verdict
 
The Supreme Court of Appeals’ 16th Criminal Chamber has reversed the trial court’s judgment concerning the former editor in chief of Cumhuriyet daily Can Dündar and the newspaper’s Ankara representative Erdem Gül in the “MIT trucks case,” ruling that a penalty between 15 to 20 years should be sought for Dündar.
 
The 14th High Criminal Court of Istanbul had sentenced Dündar to five years and 10 months in prison and Gül to five years on the charge of “disclosing documents related to the security of the state” in relation with the publication of a news report about the Syria-bound National Intelligence Agency (MIT) trucks in the May 29, 2015, edition of Cumhuriyet.
 
In its review of that ruling, the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals held that in Dündar’s case, the verdict to be rendered should be based on “espionage” charges as per Article 328 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), and that Gül “should have been acquitted of the unprovable charge due to a lack of sufficient, substantial and convincing evidence that he had joined Dündar in committing the offense.”
 
TCK Article 328 stipulates that “a person who secures information that, due to its nature, must be kept confidential for reasons relating to the security or domestic or foreign political interests of the state for the purpose of political or military espionage shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of 15 to 20 years.”
 
Two journalists handed down prison sentences
 
A court in Adana handed down prison sentences of three years, one month and 15 days each to two newspaper employees on March 9, 2018, on the charge of “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization” for distributing the Özgür Toplum magazine.
 
The 13th High Criminal Court of Adana sentenced Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper and Özgür Toplum magazine employees Murat Karakaş and Leyla Yıldız to a prison term of six years and three months in total.
 
Karakaş and Yıldız did not attend the March 9 hearing, in which they were represented by the defense attorney Tugay Bek. The lawyer told the court that there was not a ban in place for the Özgür Toplum magazine and that an order to confiscate the magazine’s copies was issued after the arrest of his clients. Bek requested his clients’ acquittal. The court convicted both Karakaş and Yıldız on the charge of “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization.”
 
Journalist Hayri Tunç briefly detained
 
Journalist Hayri Tunç was taken into custody on March 7 during a midnight police raid on his Istanbul home on account of an anonymous “complaint filed in Van.” The journalist was released the next morning following his statement before the prosecutor.
 
Şerife Oruç remanded in detention in fourth hearing
 
Şerife Oruç, a reporter for the shuttered Dicle news agency (DİHA), was remanded in pre-trial detention in the fourth hearing of the trial against her and two other co-defendants on March 7, 2018, at the 2nd High Criminal Court of Batman.
 
Şerife Oruç and her two co-defendants, one of whom is Oruç’s cousin, Emrullah, have been in pretrial detention for 21 months now. They each face up to 15 years in prison on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.”
 
Şerife Oruç, in pre-trial detention at the Elazığ Prison, could not address the court during the hearing due to a connection error in the courtroom video-conferencing system SEGBİS. She was represented at the hearing by her lawyer, Mesut Aydın, who told the court that Oruç was being unlawfully held in prison without evidence since her arrest.
 
The court issued an interim decision at the end of the hearing, ruling for the continuation of the detention of each of the three suspects, adjourning the trial to May 8, 2018.
 
P24 updates list of journalists in prison
 
P24 has updated its list of journalists in prison in Turkey, a list compiled from open sources using information available to the general public.
 
Following the latest hearings of two of the major media trials in Turkey during the week of March 5-11, 2018, there are at least 153 journalists either in pretrial detention or serving prison sentences in Turkey’s prisons.
 
1          Abdulkadir Turay, DİHA reporter
2          Abdullah Kaya, DİHA
3          Abdullah Kılıç, Habertürk
4          Abdullah Özyurt, Zaman reporter
5          Abdulvahap İş, freelance journalist
6          Ahmet Altan
7          Ahmet Feyzullah Özyurt
8          Ahmet Memiş, Haberdar news website
9          Ahmet Metin Sekizkardeş, Zaman journalist
10        Ahmet Turan Alkan, Zaman
11        Ahmet Yavaş, TRT (Erzurum)
12        Akın Atalay, Cumhuriyet Foundation executive board chairman
13        Alaattin Güner, Cihan media director
14        Ali Ahmet Böken, TRT News coordinator
15        Ali Akkuş, Zaman
16        Ali Aşikar, Azadiya Welat
17        Ali Babür Boysal, Zaman page designer
18        Ali Bulaç, former Zaman columnist
19        Ali Sönmez Kayar, ETHA reporter
20        Ali Ünal, Zaman columnist
21        Ali Yüce, TRT Radio broadcasts chief
22        Arafat Dayan, Demokratik Ulus
23        Aslı Ceren Aslan, Özgür Gelecek
24        Ayhan Demir, Çaldıran News Agency
25        Ayşe Nazlı Ilıcak
26        Ayşenur Parıldak, Zaman, Haberdar
27        Aytekin Gezici, journalist/writer
28        Aziz İstegün, Diyarbakır Zaman representative
29        Barış Ceyhan, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi employee
30        Bayram Kaya, Zaman reporter
31        Behram Kılıç
32        Beytullah Özdemir, Zaman Düzce bureau chief
33        Burçin Dokgöz, former Zaman and Çorum reporter
34        Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Journalists and Writers’ Foundation
35        Ceren Taşkın, Hatay'ın Sesi
36        Cuma Kaya, Zaman
37        Cuma Ulus, Millet newspaper’s publications coordinator
38        Cüneyt Seza Özkan, Samanyolu TV
39        Çetin Kurşun, Azadiya Welat
40        Emin Demir, freelancer
41        Emre Soncan, Zaman defense reporter
42        Ercan Gün, Fox TV
43        Erdal Süsem, Eylül magazine editor
44        Erdal Şen, former Meydan managing editor
45        Erdoğan Alayumat, Dihaber reporter
46        Erol Yüksel, TRT News Department vice president
47        Erol Zavar, Odak magazine owner and newsroom director
48        Fahrettin Kılıç, Özgür Toplum
49        Faruk Akkan, Cihan news agency
50        Ferhat Çiftçi, Azadiya Welat Gaziantep bureau chief
51        Fevzi Yazıcı, Zaman chief designer
52        Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Türksolu columnist
53        Gurbet Çakar, Hevi women’s magazine
54        Gültekin Avcı
55        Habip Güler, Zaman reporter
56        Hakan Aksel, TRT producer-director
57        Hakan Ergün, Azadiya Welat and Özgür Gündem distributor
58        Hakan Taşdelen
59        Halil İbrahim Mert, TRT (Erzurum)
60        Hamit Dilbahar, Azadiya Welat columnist
61        Hamza Günerigök, TRT
62        Hanım Büşra Erdal, Zaman reporter and columnist
63        Hasan Duman, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi distributor
64        Hatice Duman, Atılım newspaper owner and managing editor
65        Havva Cuştan, ETHA reporter
66        Hayati Yıldız, Azadiya Welat
67        Haydar Ergül, Demokratik Modernite editor
68        Hidayet Karaca, Samanyolu Media Group president
69        Hüseyin Aydın, Cihan reporter
70        Hüseyin Turan, Zaman columnist
71        İbrahim Kareyeğen, responsible editor for Zaman
72        İdris Okur, Cihan New Agency Çorum reporter
73        İdris Sayılgan, DİHA
74        İdris Yılmaz
75        İshak Karakaş, Hakın Nabzı editor-in-chief
76        İsmail Ersan, Anatolia news agency
77        İsminaz Temel, ETHA editor
78        Kamuran Sunbat, former DİHA Çukurova reporter
79        Kemal Demir, TV 10
80        Kemal Özer, Evrensel
81        Kenan Karavil, Radyo Dünya editor-in-chief
82        Mehmet Ali Ay
83        Mehmet Altan
84        Mehmet Baransu, Taraf columnist/reporter
85        Mehmet Dener, Şanlıurfa.com editor-in-chief
86        Mehmet Güleş, DİHA
87        Mehmet Gündem
88        Mehmet Kuru, Zaman Eskişehir reporter
89        Mehmet Özdemir, Zaman columnist
90        Meltem Oktay, DİHA reporter
91        Mete Cem Bahtiyar, former BirGün reporter
92        Mikail Barut, Özgür Halk former editor
93        Miktat Algül, Mezitli FM broadcast coordinator
94        Mizgin Çay, Radyo Karacadağ
95        Muhammed Sait Kuloğlu, owner of Subuhaber.com
96        Muhammet Taşçılar, Şanlıurfa.com editor-in-chief
97        Muhsin Pilgir, Zaman and Cihan news agency
98        Murat Avcıoğlu, Zaman
99        Murat Çapan, Nokta
100       Murat Dağdeviren, Demokrat Gebze owner
101       Mustafa Erkan Acar, Bugün news editor
102       Mustafa Gök, Ankara bureau chief for Ekmek ve Adalet magazine
103       Mustafa Ünal, Zaman
104       Mutlu Çölgeçen, Millet, newsroom coordinator
105       Mutlu Özay, Cihan reporter
106       Mümtazer Türköne, Zaman columnist
107       Nadir Yücel, Çorum Yıldız local newspaper editor-in-chief
108       Nedim Türfent, DİHA
109       Nizamettin İzgi, Batman newspaper owner
110       Nuh Gönültaş, Bugün columnist
111       Nuri Durna, TRT
112       Nuri Yeşil, Azadiya Welat Dersim bureau chief
113       Nurullah Kaya, Gaziantep Zaman representative
114       Oğuz Usluer, Habertürk former broadcasts coordinator
115       Osman Yakut, Zaman Antalya
116       Ömer Oruç, Cihan newspaper
117       Özcan Keser, TRT reporter
118       Rabia Özkaya, Özgür Halk
119       Ramazan Alkan, Yeni Akit reporter
120       Resul Cengiz, Denizli reporter with Zaman
121       Sadık Demir, Radyo Karacadağ
122       Sait Gürkan Tuzlu, Cihan reporter
123       Salih Erbekler, Radyo Karacadağ
124       Sami Tunca, Mücadele Birliği magazine managing editor
125       Seda Taşkın, Mezopotamya News Agency reporter
126       Semiha Mete, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi reporter/distributor
127       Serhat Şeftali, Zaman regional bureau chief for the Med region
128       Serkan Aydemir, Bitlis Aktüel reporter
129       Sertan Önal, Halkın Günlüğü reporter
130       Seyid Kılıç, TRT News
131       Seyithan Akyüz, Azadiya Welat Adana bureau chief
132       Şahabettin Demir, DİHA reporter
133       Şahin Alpay, Zaman columnist
134       Şeref Yılmaz, Irmak TV
135       Şerife Oruç, DİHA reporter
136       Togay Okay, Özgür Gelecek
137       Tuncer Çetinkaya, Zaman Antalya
138       Turgut Usul, TRT reporter
139       Ufuk Şanlı, former Vatan columnist
140       Ünal Tanık, Rota Haber editor-in-chief
141       Vahit Yazgan, İzmir Zaman bureau chief
142       Veli Büyükşahin, TV10 executive
143       Veli Haydar Güleç, TV10 executive
144       Yakup Çetin, Zaman reporter
145       Yakup Şimşek, Zaman, marketing director
146       Yalçın Güler, TRT (Erzurum)
147       Yasir Kaya, Fenerbahçe TV, formerly
148       Yener Dönmez, Habervaktim news website
149       Yetkin Yıldız, Aktif Haber website editor
150       Yılmaz Kahraman, Özgür Halk editor
151       Zafer Özsoy
152       Zehra Doğan, Jinha
153       Ziya Ataman, DİHA reporter
For a full list of all the imprisoned journalists in Turkey, visit this spreadsheet. Lists of all of the foundations and associations as well as media outlets shut down can also be found at the same link, although on different tabs of the same spreadsheet.