Journalists in State of Emergency – 134

 
Imprisoned journalist Nazlı Ilıcak appeared before the 26th High Criminal Court of Istanbul on April 9, 2018, for the first hearing of a new trial in which she is facing life imprisonment on “espionage” charges on account of a newspaper column she wrote in 2015.
 
Ilıcak gave her statement at the hearing via the courtroom video-conferencing system SEGBİS from the Bakırköy Women’s Prison in Istanbul, where she has been imprisoned since July 2016, first in pretrial detention, and since February 16 as a convict in the case in which she and five others — including the brothers Ahmet and Mehmet Altan — were handed down aggravated life sentences for “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.”
 
The new case against Ilıcak, opened in January, concerns a newspaper column by Ilıcak, published on January 2, 2015, in the shuttered Bugün daily and titled “Askerî İstihbarat ve Tahşiyeciler” (The Military Intelligence and Tahşiyeciler).
 
The indictment, issued by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, accuses Ilıcak of “Disclosing confidential information crucial to state security for espionage purposes” under Article 330/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).
 
In her defense statement on Monday, Ilıcak told the court that the information about the group called Tahşiyeciler that she included in her article was already available to the public in social media and for that reason the information that constitutes the basis of accusation in the indictment was not classified information, adding that for this reason it was not information crucial to the security of the state either.
 
Also noting that a military prosecutor had already questioned her about the matter, Ilıcak said she had given all the information she had on the subject to the military prosecutor. She added that she had explained to the military prosecutor that she had taken the information from a certain Twitter account but that she had not known who that Twitter account belonged to or for what reason that Twitter account had sent her the said information.
 
Ilıcak said that the document forwarded to her contained information that the Tahşiyeciler group had ties with al Qaeda. “Since al Qaeda was a threat to national security, I wrote about the information in my column, believing there is public good in the document that was forwarded to me,” Ilıcak told the court, adding: “In my article I wrote that these people were dangerous and that for those people to be released just because they were framed by FETÖ [Fethullahist Terrorist Organization] was wrong.”
 
Ilıcak requested the charge against her to be dropped due to the statute of limitations in the Press Law.
 
Ilıcak’s lawyer said the journalist was not guilty and requested that the charges are dropped.
 
The court ruled to send the case file to the prosecutor for his final opinion and postponed the trial to May 23.
 
 
Özgürlükçü Demokrasi editors jailed pending trial
 
Three editors and one staff member of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgürlükçü Demokrasi were jailed pending trial on April 10 by an Istanbul court on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.”
 
For the full story, click here.
 
Former Zaman reporter Emre Soncan handed down prison sentence
 
An Istanbul court on April 10 sentenced imprisoned journalist Emre Soncan, a former defense reporter for the shuttered Zaman daily, to 7.5 years in prison for “membership in a terrorist organization.”
 
Soncan appeared at the final hearing of the case, overseen by the 25th High Criminal Court of Istanbul, via the courtroom video-conferencing system SEGBİS. The trial was an offshoot of the case publicly known as the “FETÖ media trial,” in which Soncan and 28 others faced “membership in a terrorist group” charges. Soncan’s case file was separated from that case during its hearing on February 22-23 to be merged with another case file against the journalist.
 
The accusations in the indictment were based on Soncan’s social media posts and the journalist depositing cash into his Bank Asya account during the period when FETÖ leader Fethullah Gülen instructed that members of his network deposit funds to Bank Asya.
 
Soncan denied all accusations and requested his acquittal.
 
Announcing its verdict, the court initially convicted Soncan to nine years in prison for “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” The court reduced the sentence to 7 years and six months taking into account his “good conduct during the proceedings” and ruled for the continuation of his imprisonment.
 
 
20 former TRT employees taken into custody on “FETÖ” allegations
 
Twenty former employees of the Turkish state broadcaster TRT were taken into custody in police operations in five provinces across Turkey as part of ongoing “Fethullahist Terrorist Organization” investigations by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
 
The names of the employees and the positions they held at the TRT were unclear. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported on April 8 that the detentions were part of 52 separate FETÖ operations conducted in 33 provinces across Turkey in the first week of April.
 
Three academics handed down prison sentences for signing peace petition
 
Three of the academics who signed the Academics for Peace declaration in 2016 were each handed down prison sentences on April 9 for “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization.”
 
The 32nd High Criminal Court of Istanbul convicted academics İrfan Emre Kovankaya, E.K. and Sharo İbrahim Garip to 1 year and 3 months in prison each. The court suspended the sentences.
 
A total of 1,123 academics had signed the Academics for Peace petition, which called for an end to human rights abuses in Turkey’s Southeastern provinces during the period of extensive curfews imposed on the region in 2015. More than 150 of those academics are facing trial on “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge for signing the petition.
 
List of jailed journalists updated
 
Upon the imprisonment of three editors and one staff member of the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper on April 10, the number of journalists in prison in Turkey became at least 161. The detailed list can reached 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     Hicran Ürün, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi 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     İhsan Yaşar, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi owner
76     İshak Karakaş, Hakın Nabzı editor-in-chief
77     İshak Yasul, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi responsible managing editor
78     İsmail Ersan, Anatolia news agency
79     İsminaz Temel, ETHA editor
80     Kamuran Sunbat, former DİHA Çukurova reporter
81     Kemal Demir, TV 10
82     Kemal Özer, Evrensel
83     Kenan Karavil, Radyo Dünya editor-in-chief
84     Kubilay Çelik, Antropolog magazine responsible managing editor
85     Mehmet Ali Ay
86     Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi editor
87     Mehmet Altan
88     Mehmet Baransu, Taraf columnist/reporter
89     Mehmet Dener, Şanlıurfa.com editor-in-chief
90     Mehmet Dursun
91     Mehmet Güleş, DİHA
92     Mehmet Gündem
93     Mehmet Kuru, Zaman Eskişehir reporter
94     Mehmet Özdemir, Zaman columnist
95     Meltem Oktay, DİHA reporter
96     Mikail Barut, Özgür Halk former editor
97     Miktat Algül, Mezitli FM broadcast coordinator
98     Mizgin Çay, Radyo Karacadağ
99     Muhammed Sait Kuloğlu, owner of Subuhaber.com
100    Muhammet Taşçılar, Şanlıurfa.com editor-in-chief
101    Muhsin Pilgir, Zaman and Cihan news agency
102    Murat Avcıoğlu, Zaman
103    Murat Çapan, Nokta
104    Murat Dağdeviren, Demokrat Gebze owner
105    Mustafa Erkan Acar, Bugün news editor
106    Mustafa Gök, Ankara bureau chief for Ekmek ve Adalet magazine
107    Mustafa Göktaş, Özgür Gündem Şanlıurfa reporter
108    Mustafa Ünal, Zaman
109    Mutlu Çölgeçen, Millet, newsroom coordinator
110    Mutlu Özay, Cihan reporter
111    Mümtazer Türköne, Zaman columnist
112    Nadir Yücel, Çorum Yıldız local newspaper editor-in-chief
113    Nedim Türfent, DİHA
114    Nizamettin İzgi, Batman newspaper owner
115    Nuh Gönültaş, Bugün columnist
116    Nuri Durna, TRT
117    Nuri Yeşil, Azadiya Welat Dersim bureau chief
118    Nurullah Kaya, Gaziantep Zaman representative
119    Oğuz Usluer, Habertürk former broadcasts coordinator
120    Osman Yakut, Zaman Antalya
121    Ömer Oruç, Cihan newspaper
122    Özcan Keser, TRT reporter
123    Pınar Tarlak, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi employee
124    Rabia Özkaya, Özgür Halk
125    Ramazan Alkan, Yeni Akit reporter
126    Resul Cengiz, Denizli reporter with Zaman
127    Reyhan Hacıoğlu, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi editor
128    Sadık Demir, Radyo Karacadağ
129    Sait Gürkan Tuzlu, Cihan reporter
130    Salih Erbekler, Radyo Karacadağ
131    Sami Tunca, Mücadele Birliği magazine managing editor
132    Seda Taşkın, Mezopotamya News Agency reporter
133    Semiha Mete, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi reporter/distributor
134    Serhat Şeftali, Zaman regional bureau chief for the Med region
135    Serkan Aydemir, Bitlis Aktüel reporter
136    Serpil Ünal, Mücadele Birliği reporter
137    Sertan Önal, Halkın Günlüğü reporter
138    Seyid Kılıç, TRT News
139    Seyithan Akyüz, Azadiya Welat Adana bureau chief
140    Songül Yücel, Önsöz editor in chief
141    Süleyman Acar, Mücadele Birliği editor in chief
142    Şahabettin Demir, DİHA reporter
143    Şeref Yılmaz, Irmak TV
144    Şerife Oruç, DİHA reporter
145    Togay Okay, Özgür Gelecek
146    Tuncer Çetinkaya, Zaman Antalya
147    Turgut Usul, TRT reporter
148    Ufuk Şanlı, former Vatan columnist
149    Ünal Tanık, Rota Haber editor-in-chief
150    Vahit Yazgan, İzmir Zaman bureau chief
151    Veli Büyükşahin, TV10 executive
152    Veli Haydar Güleç, TV10 executive
153    Yakup Çetin, Zaman reporter
154    Yakup Şimşek, Zaman, marketing director
155    Yalçın Güler, TRT (Erzurum)
156    Yener Dönmez, Habervaktim news website
157    Yetkin Yıldız, Aktif Haber website editor
158    Yılmaz Kahraman, Özgür Halk editor
159    Zafer Özsoy
160    Zehra Doğan, Jinha
161    Ziya Ataman, DİHA reporter