Journalists in State of Emergency – 132

 
 
Jailed journalist Ali Ahmet Böken, a former executive for the Turkish public broadcaster TRT, was sentenced to 9 years and 9 months in prison on April 3, 2018, on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” during the final hearing of the trial against him at the 18th High Criminal Court of Ankara.
 
Böken’s imprisonment on remand will continue during the appeal process, the court also ruled.
 
In his closing statements, the prosecutor requested between 7.5 years and 15 years in prison for Böken for “membership in FETÖ,” the name given by the Turkish government to the religious Fethullah Gülen network.
 
Böken said in his defense statement that he didn’t commit any crime and only did his job as a journalist. Böken also said he has never used ByLock, an encrypted mobile messaging application purported to be used exclusively by the members of the Fethullah Gülen network. He only used KakaoTalk, another application under scrutiny, Böken said, adding that his use of the app wasn’t related to the activities of any organization.
 
“I didn’t do anything other than serving my country,” Böken said, as his lawyers
demanded his acquittal. Böken has been in pretrial detention since August 2016 and was dismissed from the TRT in September 2016.
 
Hasan Cemal handed down prison sentence for 2013 articles
 
P24 founding president and T24 columnist Hasan Cemal was sentenced to 3 months and 22 days in prison on April 3, 2018, for a series of articles published in 2013 at the end of the retrial of a case in which he was previously acquitted.
 
A detailed report about the trial can be found here.
 
Özgürlükçü Demokrasi editors detained
 
Five journalist of the pro-Kurdish Özgürlükçü Demokrasi daily, which was seized by the government last week, were taken into custody during police raids on their homes on April 4.
 
Editors Reyhan Hacıoğlu and Hicran Ürün, journalists Pınar Tarlak and Nedim Demirkıran and a former reporter for the paper, Mehmet Beyazit, were taken into custody during midnight raids, the Mezopotamya news agency reported.
 
There was no official word as to the grounds for the detentions. Police said a gag order was issued concerning the investigation.
 
Police raided the Istanbul offices of Özgürlükçü Demokrasi and Gün printing house on March 28. Both the newspaper and the printing house were seized by the banking system watchdog Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF).
 
Mücadele Birliği and Önsöz editors jailed
 
Three journalists who were among six individuals taken into custody on March 23 during police raids on the offices of Mücadele Birliği newspaper and Önsöz magazine were jailed on March 30 pending trial.
 
Önsöz Editor in Chief Songül Yücel, Mücadele Birliği Editor in Chief Süleyman Acar and reporter Serpil Ünal were arrested on account of their social media posts alongside three readers of the Önsöz magazine. All six gave thier statements before a prosecutor on March 30, after which they were referred to a court for arrest. The court arrested all six on “membership in a terrorist group” charges.
 
Acar was sent to Metris Prison and Yücel was sent to Bakırköy Women’s Prison.
 
Journalist Çağdaş Kaplan risks up to 15 years in prison
 
A prosecutor has sought up to 15 years in prison on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” for Çağdaş Kaplan, an editor for the online newspaper Gazete Karınca.
 
Submitting his final opinion during the latest hearing of an ongoing case against the journalist at the Sakarya 2nd High Criminal Court in March, the prosecutor requested that Kaplan is convicted for “terrorist group membership” based on the allegation that the journalist had “direct ties with TV stations and websites through which the terrorist group broadcasts.”
 
The allegation and the case stem from a criminal investigation launched into the journalist following a news story he penned in 2010, during his time as a reporter for the shuttered Dicle News Agency (DİHA), concerning investigations the administrators of a school in Sakarya launched into the Kurdish students of the school.
 
Kaplan had been taken into custody as part of the investigation, and was released four days later by the Chief Public Prosecutor.
 
The court is expected to issue its verdict in the next hearing of the case, which is scheduled for May 31.
 
Police raid Mezopotamya agency reporter’s house, detain his father
 
Police raided the house of Mezopotamya news agency reporter Berzan Güneş in the eastern province of Iğdır on April 4. Güneş was not home during the raid, conducted on grounds of an arrest warrant against the journalist. Police detained Güneş’s father, Ahmet Güneş (68) on grounds of several books they found during the search.
 
TL 1.5 mln compensation case against Çiğdem Toker to begin June 19
 
The first hearing in a lawsuit filed by Agrobay, a Turkish agricultural company, against Cumhuriyet journalist Çiğdem Toker, seeking a record TL 1.5 million in non-pecuniary damages for an article she wrote in November 2017, will be held on June 19, 2018, at Ankara’s 1st Civil Court of First Instance.
 
Toker’s article concerned Turkish agricultural companies approved to export tomatoes to Russia following the lifting of restrictions Russia imposed on Turkey after Turkey downed a Russian jet fighter in November 2015.
 
Agrobay’s executives claimed Toker’s article “destroyed the company’s public image” and “damaged its commercial standing.” The 1st Civil Court of First Instance of Ankara accepted the case file in January.
 
Court orders red notice issued for journalist Can Dündar
 
The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court on April 2 issued an arrest warrant against the former editor in chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper Can Dündar and ordered that Turkey asks Interpol to issue red notice for the exiled journalist as part of the case concerning the newspaper’s publishing of a news story and images of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks that allegedly carried weapons to insurgents in Syria in 2014.
 
The Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals had recently reversed a previous court decision that sentenced Dündar to five years and 10 months in prison for “disclosing classified information” concerning the publication of the news report, saying Dündar should be accused with “espionage” charges in the case.
 
The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court issued the arrest warrant and the Interpol red notice order upon receiving the case file for retrial.
 
The court also set May 7, 2018, as the date of the first hearing in the retrial.
 
Other violations of freedom of expression
 
Professor Zübeyde Füsun Üstel, from Galatasaray University, and Associate Professor Veli Polat, from İstanbul University, two academics facing “terrorism propaganda” charges on grounds that they signed a 2016 declaration by the Academics for Peace initiative, were each sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison on April 4. Polat’s sentence was suspended. The hearings took place at the 32nd and 14th High Criminal Courts of Istanbul at the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.
 
The 13th High Criminal Court of Istanbul acquitted Şanar Yurdatapan and Doğan Özkan of “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges on April 3 at the final hearing of the trial against the two rights defenders. Yurdatapan and Özkan were on trial for protesting the arbitrary detentions of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) President Şebnem Korur Fincancı and writer Ahmet Nesin.
 
Nine of the 16 Boğaziçi University students who were taken into custody in late March after protesting against a rally on the school campus in support of Turkey’s ongoing military operation on Syria’s Afrin, were jailed pending trial on April 3. The students were jailed on the charge of “spreading terrorist propaganda.” Six of the students were released on judicial control terms.
 
List of journalists in prison
 
Following the imprisonment of Mücadele Birliği and Önsöz editors and reporter on March 30, the number of journalists in prison on remand or as convicts has gone up to at least 154. For the full list, click here.
 
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              Ayşe Nazlı Ilıcak
25              Ayşenur Parıldak, Zaman, Haberdar
26              Aytekin Gezici, journalist/writer
27              Aziz İstegün, Diyarbakır Zaman representative
28              Barış Ceyhan, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi employee
29              Bayram Kaya, Zaman reporter
30              Behram Kılıç
31              Beytullah Özdemir, Zaman Düzce bureau chief
32              Burçin Dokgöz, former Zaman and Çorum reporter
33              Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Journalists and Writers’ Foundation
34              Ceren Taşkın, Hatay'ın Sesi
35              Cuma Kaya, Zaman
36              Cuma Ulus, Millet newspaper’s publications coordinator
37              Cüneyt Seza Özkan, Samanyolu TV
38              Çetin Kurşun, Azadiya Welat
39              Emin Demir, freelancer
40              Emre Soncan, Zaman defense reporter
41              Ercan Gün, Fox TV
42              Erdal Süsem, Eylül magazine editor
43              Erdal Şen, former Meydan managing editor
44              Erdoğan Alayumat, Dihaber reporter
45              Erol Yüksel, TRT News Department vice president
46              Erol Zavar, Odak magazine owner and newsroom director
47              Fahrettin Kılıç, Özgür Toplum
48              Faruk Akkan, Cihan news agency
49              Ferhat Çiftçi, Azadiya Welat Gaziantep bureau chief
50              Fevzi Yazıcı, Zaman chief designer
51              Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Türksolu columnist
52              Gurbet Çakar, Hevi women’s magazine
53              Gültekin Avcı
54              Habip Güler, Zaman reporter
55              Hakan Aksel, TRT producer-director
56              Hakan Ergün, Azadiya Welat and Özgür Gündem distributor
57              Hakan Taşdelen
58              Halil İbrahim Mert, TRT (Erzurum)
59              Hamit Dilbahar, Azadiya Welat columnist
60              Hamza Günerigök, TRT
61              Hanım Büşra Erdal, Zaman reporter and columnist
62              Hasan Duman, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi distributor
63              Hatice Duman, Atılım newspaper owner and managing editor
64              Havva Cuştan, ETHA reporter
65              Hayati Yıldız, Azadiya Welat
66              Haydar Ergül, Demokratik Modernite editor
67              Hidayet Karaca, Samanyolu Media Group president
68              Hüseyin Aydın, Cihan reporter
69              Hüseyin Turan, Zaman columnist
70              İbrahim Kareyeğen, responsible editor for Zaman
71              İdris Okur, Cihan New Agency Çorum reporter
72              İdris Sayılgan, DİHA
73              İdris Yılmaz
74              İshak Karakaş, Hakın Nabzı editor-in-chief
75              İsmail Ersan, Anatolia news agency
76              İsminaz Temel, ETHA editor
77              Kamuran Sunbat, former DİHA Çukurova reporter
78              Kemal Demir, TV 10
79              Kemal Özer, Evrensel
80              Kenan Karavil, Radyo Dünya editor-in-chief
81              Kubilay Çelik, Antropolog magazine responsible managing editor
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              Mikail Barut, Özgür Halk former editor
92              Miktat Algül, Mezitli FM broadcast coordinator
93              Mizgin Çay, Radyo Karacadağ
94              Muhammed Sait Kuloğlu, owner of Subuhaber.com
95              Muhammet Taşçılar, Şanlıurfa.com editor-in-chief
96              Muhsin Pilgir, Zaman and Cihan news agency
97              Murat Avcıoğlu, Zaman
98              Murat Çapan, Nokta
99              Murat Dağdeviren, Demokrat Gebze owner
100            Mustafa Erkan Acar, Bugün news editor
101            Mustafa Gök, Ankara bureau chief for Ekmek ve Adalet magazine
102            Mustafa Göktaş, Özgür Gündem Şanlıurfa reporter
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            Serpil Ünal, Mücadele Birliği reporter
130            Sertan Önal, Halkın Günlüğü reporter
131            Seyid Kılıç, TRT News
132            Seyithan Akyüz, Azadiya Welat Adana bureau chief
133            Songül Yücel, Önsöz editor in chief
134            Süleyman Acar, Mücadele Birliği editor in chief
135            Şahabettin Demir, DİHA reporter
136            Şeref Yılmaz, Irmak TV
137            Şerife Oruç, DİHA reporter
138            Togay Okay, Özgür Gelecek
139            Tuncer Çetinkaya, Zaman Antalya
140            Turgut Usul, TRT reporter
141            Ufuk Şanlı, former Vatan columnist
142            Ünal Tanık, Rota Haber editor-in-chief
143            Vahit Yazgan, İzmir Zaman bureau chief
144            Veli Büyükşahin, TV10 executive
145            Veli Haydar Güleç, TV10 executive
146            Yakup Çetin, Zaman reporter
147            Yakup Şimşek, Zaman, marketing director
148            Yalçın Güler, TRT (Erzurum)
149            Yener Dönmez, Habervaktim news website
150            Yetkin Yıldız, Aktif Haber website editor
151            Yılmaz Kahraman, Özgür Halk editor
152            Zafer Özsoy
153            Zehra Doğan, Jinha
154            Ziya Ataman, DİHA reporter