Journalists in State of Emergency – 136
ETHA correspondent Adil Demirci jailed pending trial on “membership in terrorist organization” and “propaganda” charges; at least 163 journos in jail
17.04.2018
Adil Demirci, a reporter for Etkin News Agency (ETHA), was jailed pending trial by an Istanbul court on April 17, 2018, five days after being arrested during a late night police raid in Istanbul.
After his interrogation, the prosecutor referred Demirci to a Judgeship of Peace demanding he should remain in detention pending trial on the charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The Judgeship ruled to jail Demirci pending trial.
A German citizen, Demirci is a sociologist by profession, who used to live in Cologne and contribute news articles to ETHA.
In a statement following Demirci’s arrest, Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the German Consulate-General in Istanbul was seeking to provide consular services to Demirci and engaged in contact with his family as well as Turkish officials.
ETHA editor Semiha Şahin and reporter Pınar Gayıp, who were arrested the same day as Demirci, were still in custody at the Police Department as of Tuesday afternoon.
Evrensel editor-in-chief Polat stands retrial of 2013 case
Evrensel daily’s editor-in-chief Fatih Polat appeared before a court on April 17 in the retrial of a case in which he was convicted of “revealing the identity” of a victim in a news article.
Polat was sentenced to a fine of TL 10,000 in 2013 for the news story, published on May 23, 2012, while Polat was the responsible editor of Evrensel. The court had suspended the judgment.
After Polat was convicted of another charge in another media trial, the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance decided to review that decision and reassess the specifics of the case in a retrial.
During the first hearing of the retrial on Tuesday, Polat told the court that the news story was not intended to expose the student who was victimized. “The injured party’s last name is only mentioned by its initials in the news article on the website. It shows that we didn’t have any intent of commiting a crime,” Polat said, demanding his acquittal.
Polat’s lawyer Mustafa Söğütlü requested additional time to prepare a detailed defense statement. The court accepted the lawyer’s request and adjourned the trial to September 6, 2018.
Former columnist Hür handed down prison sentence over Tweet
Historian and former columnist Ayşe Hür was sentenced on April 17 to one year and three months in prison on the charge of “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization” over a previous Twitter post. The 24th High Criminal Court of Istanbul suspended the verdict.
Announcing the prison sentence she was handed down in a Twitter message, Hür said the sentence would be executed if she committed a similar crime in the next five years. “The court sentenced me to the fixed tariff of one year and three months [in prison] for a single tweet, which contained a sociological definition (despite having sent 25 tweets criticizing the crime that I allegedly committed by a tweet),” Hür wrote.
Journalist Ergündoğan’s freedom of expression violated, ECtHR finds
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that columnist Yalçın Ergündoğan’s right to freedom of expression was violated due to a fine he received for a 2005 column published in BirGün during his time as a columnist for that paper.
In 2010, an Istanbul court found Ergündoǧan guilty of “insulting” four plaintiffs, including the chairman of the Independent Turkey Party (BTP), Haydar Baş, holding that Ergündoğan’s article had “overstepped the boundaries of criticism and infringed, as a whole, the honor, dignity and reputation” of the plaintiffs.
In its April 17 ruling, the European Court, although ruling in favor of Ergündoğan, did not grant him compensation. The Court held that the finding of a violation constituted sufficient just satisfaction for the non-pecuniary damage sustained by Ergündoğan.
Writer İhsan Eliaçık handed down prison sentence
An Istanbul court on April 17 handed down theologian and writer İhsan Eliaçık six years and three months in prison for “conducting propaganda for an armed terrorist organization.”
For the full story, click here.
List of journalists in jail updated
Following ETHA correspondent Adil Demirci’s detention pending trial on April 17, the number of journalists in prison in Turkey became at least 163. The full list can be accessed 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 Adil Demirci, ETHA reporter
7 Ahmet Altan
8 Ahmet Feyzullah Özyurt
9 Ahmet Memiş, Haberdar news website
10 Ahmet Metin Sekizkardeş, Zaman journalist
11 Ahmet Turan Alkan, Zaman
12 Ahmet Yavaş, TRT (Erzurum)
13 Akın Atalay, Cumhuriyet Foundation executive board chairman
14 Alaattin Güner, Cihan media director
15 Ali Ahmet Böken, TRT News coordinator
16 Ali Akkuş, Zaman
17 Ali Aşikar, Azadiya Welat
18 Ali Babür Boysal, Zaman page designer
19 Ali Bulaç, former Zaman columnist
20 Ali Sönmez Kayar, ETHA reporter
21 Ali Ünal, Zaman columnist
22 Ali Yüce, TRT Radio broadcasts chief
23 Arafat Dayan, Demokratik Ulus
24 Aslı Ceren Aslan, Özgür Gelecek
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 Ferhat Parlak, Silvan Mücadele newspaper owner
52 Fevzi Yazıcı, Zaman chief designer
53 Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Türksolu columnist
54 Gurbet Çakar, Hevi women’s magazine
55 Gültekin Avcı
56 Habip Güler, Zaman reporter
57 Hakan Aksel, TRT producer-director
58 Hakan Ergün, Azadiya Welat and Özgür Gündem distributor
59 Hakan Taşdelen
60 Halil İbrahim Mert, TRT (Erzurum)
61 Hamit Dilbahar, Azadiya Welat columnist
62 Hamza Günerigök, TRT
63 Hanım Büşra Erdal, Zaman reporter and columnist
64 Hasan Duman, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi distributor
65 Hatice Duman, Atılım newspaper owner and managing editor
66 Havva Cuştan, ETHA reporter
67 Hayati Yıldız, Azadiya Welat
68 Haydar Ergül, Demokratik Modernite editor
69 Hicran Ürün, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi editor
70 Hidayet Karaca, Samanyolu Media Group president
71 Hüseyin Aydın, Cihan reporter
72 Hüseyin Turan, Zaman columnist
73 İbrahim Kareyeğen, responsible editor for Zaman
74 İdris Okur, Cihan New Agency Çorum reporter
75 İdris Sayılgan, DİHA
76 İdris Yılmaz
77 İhsan Yaşar, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi owner
78 İshak Karakaş, Hakın Nabzı editor-in-chief
79 İshak Yasul, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi responsible managing editor
80 İsmail Ersan, Anatolia news agency
81 İsminaz Temel, ETHA editor
82 Kamuran Sunbat, former DİHA Çukurova reporter
83 Kemal Demir, TV 10
84 Kemal Özer, Evrensel
85 Kenan Karavil, Radyo Dünya editor-in-chief
86 Kubilay Çelik, Antropolog magazine responsible managing editor
87 Mehmet Ali Ay
88 Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi editor
89 Mehmet Altan
90 Mehmet Baransu, Taraf columnist/reporter
91 Mehmet Dener, Şanlıurfa.com editor-in-chief
92 Mehmet Dursun
93 Mehmet Güleş, DİHA
94 Mehmet Gündem
95 Mehmet Kuru, Zaman Eskişehir reporter
96 Mehmet Özdemir, Zaman columnist
97 Meltem Oktay, DİHA reporter
98 Mikail Barut, Özgür Halk former editor
99 Miktat Algül, Mezitli FM broadcast coordinator
100 Mizgin Çay, Radyo Karacadağ
101 Muhammed Sait Kuloğlu, owner of Subuhaber.com
102 Muhammet Taşçılar, Şanlıurfa.com editor-in-chief
103 Muhsin Pilgir, Zaman and Cihan news agency
104 Murat Avcıoğlu, Zaman
105 Murat Çapan, Nokta
106 Murat Dağdeviren, Demokrat Gebze owner
107 Mustafa Erkan Acar, Bugün news editor
108 Mustafa Gök, Ankara bureau chief for Ekmek ve Adalet magazine
109 Mustafa Göktaş, Özgür Gündem Şanlıurfa reporter
110 Mustafa Ünal, Zaman
111 Mutlu Çölgeçen, Millet, newsroom coordinator
112 Mutlu Özay, Cihan reporter
113 Mümtazer Türköne, Zaman columnist
114 Nadir Yücel, Çorum Yıldız local newspaper editor-in-chief
115 Nedim Türfent, DİHA
116 Nizamettin İzgi, Batman newspaper owner
117 Nuh Gönültaş, Bugün columnist
118 Nuri Durna, TRT
119 Nuri Yeşil, Azadiya Welat Dersim bureau chief
120 Nurullah Kaya, Gaziantep Zaman representative
121 Oğuz Usluer, Habertürk former broadcasts coordinator
122 Osman Yakut, Zaman Antalya
123 Ömer Oruç, Cihan newspaper
124 Özcan Keser, TRT reporter
125 Pınar Tarlak, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi employee
126 Rabia Özkaya, Özgür Halk
127 Ramazan Alkan, Yeni Akit reporter
128 Resul Cengiz, Denizli reporter with Zaman
129 Reyhan Hacıoğlu, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi editor
130 Sadık Demir, Radyo Karacadağ
131 Sait Gürkan Tuzlu, Cihan reporter
132 Salih Erbekler, Radyo Karacadağ
133 Sami Tunca, Mücadele Birliği magazine managing editor
134 Seda Taşkın, Mezopotamya News Agency reporter
135 Semiha Mete, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi reporter/distributor
136 Serhat Şeftali, Zaman regional bureau chief for the Med region
137 Serkan Aydemir, Bitlis Aktüel reporter
138 Serpil Ünal, Mücadele Birliği reporter
139 Sertan Önal, Halkın Günlüğü reporter
140 Seyid Kılıç, TRT News
141 Seyithan Akyüz, Azadiya Welat Adana bureau chief
142 Songül Yücel, Önsöz editor in chief
143 Süleyman Acar, Mücadele Birliği editor in chief
144 Şahabettin Demir, DİHA reporter
145 Şeref Yılmaz, Irmak TV
146 Şerife Oruç, DİHA reporter
147 Togay Okay, Özgür Gelecek
148 Tuncer Çetinkaya, Zaman Antalya
149 Turgut Usul, TRT reporter
150 Ufuk Şanlı, former Vatan columnist
151 Ünal Tanık, Rota Haber editor-in-chief
152 Vahit Yazgan, İzmir Zaman bureau chief
153 Veli Büyükşahin, TV10 executive
154 Veli Haydar Güleç, TV10 executive
155 Yakup Çetin, Zaman reporter
156 Yakup Şimşek, Zaman, marketing director
157 Yalçın Güler, TRT (Erzurum)
158 Yener Dönmez, Habervaktim news website
159 Yetkin Yıldız, Aktif Haber website editor
160 Yılmaz Kahraman, Özgür Halk editor
161 Zafer Özsoy
162 Zehra Doğan, Jinha
163 Ziya Ataman, DİHA reporter