Friday, 16 March 2018 – LONDON

On Friday, 9th of March, a Turkish court sentenced 25 journalists to prison on the ground of being members of a terrorist organisation. The primary evidence against the journalists presented by the court is their social media sharing in which they had criticised the Turkish government and President Tayyip Erdogan. On this patently ridiculous charges, 23 journalists were sentenced to prison for between two and seven years while two of them were given lesser sentences and then released based on the time they had already served in prison.

Nina Ognianova, the Committee to Protect Journalists Europe and Central Asia programme coordinator, described the decision as “a disgrace to Turkey’s justice system” and called on authorities to drop the charges on appeal. “Turkish authorities must stop equating journalism with terrorism, and release the scores of press workers jailed for doing their job.”

Background

• The majority of these journalists were working for Zaman and Today’s Zaman dailies. These two newspapers were first seized in March 2016 and then shut down by the Turkish government due to their friendly editorial links to the Hizmet Movement.
• The Turkish government blames the Movement for the July 15 coup attempt in 2016. The Movement denies these allegations.
• Recently another Turkish court sentenced 6 journalists to life in prison on similar patently ridiculous charges in relation to the July 15 coup attempt. Veteran Turkish journalists/commentators Nazli Ilicak and Ahmet and Mehmet Altan, also known as Altan brothers were convicted for seeking to overthrow the Turkish government through “subliminal messages.”
• Fevzi Yazici, the artistic manager of Zaman media group, and Yakup Simsek, formerly head of Public Relations Department at Zaman daily, were also sentenced to aggravated life term in prison due to their alleged involvement in creating an advertisement for Zaman Daily a year before the coup attempt in which a smiling baby’s face was pictured. The prosecutor claimed that there was a “subliminal message” behind the smiling baby face and admitted it to be a “credible evidence” as a reference to a new Turkey after the military takeover. The prosecutor then argued that the number of the days between the broadcasting of the film and the coup attempt was 9 months and ten days hence the “subliminal message” for the coup attempt in the film was pictured in the form of a smiling baby.
• Turkish government’s crackdown on journalists and critical media outlets has steadily increased in recent years. Since the coup attempt, 189 media outlets are shut down and as of March 2018, 319 journalists arrested.
• Turkey has seen 4 points regression from its 2016 ranking and ranked 155 out of 180 countries according to RSF’s World Press Freedom Index in 2017. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog,’ annual report on press freedom Turkey for the second consecutive year has been one of “the world’s worst jailers” of the journalists and reporters.

Turkey Institute is inviting all relevant parties, including the members of opposition groups in Turkey and the Turkish Diaspora in the West:

1. To leave aside their differences and realize that the persecution of voices of dissent in Turkey does not recognize any limit, ideological camp, or even apparent service to rule of law.
2. To stop using the language of persecution the Turkish regime has imposed upon any opposition group and refer to all groups of opposition in Turkey only with terms acceptable to those groups.
3. To force the Western-Democratic allies of Turkey to conditionalize their economic and military cooperation with the Turkish regime on unconditional release of all journalists, authors, artists, and lawyers who are behind the bars for alleged political crimes. Turkey Institute strongly advocates deferring to all imprisonment sentences in these cases until the final decision of the European Court of Human Rights on them.

These are the journalists sentenced on Friday, their outlets, convictions, and sentences: (Source: The CPJ statement)

– Atilla Taş, (columnist, daily Meydan); “knowingly and willingly aiding a [terrorist] organization,” 37 months; free considering time served.

– Murat Aksoy (columnist, daily Yeni Hayat); “knowingly and willingly aiding a [terrorist] organization,” 25 months; free considering time served.

– Ali Akkuş (editor, daily Zaman); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Ahmet Memiş (editor, news websites Haberdar and Rotahaber); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Yetkin Yıldız (editor, news website Aktif Haber); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Seyid Kılıç (technician, TRT Haber Radio); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Ünal Tanık (editor, news website Rotahaber); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Muhammed Sait Kuloğlu (publisher and owner, news website Subuhaber); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Cuma Ulus (editor, daily Millet); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Mustafa Erkan Acar (editor, daily Özgür Düşünce); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Mutlu Çölgeçen (editor, Millet); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Ufuk Şanlı (reporter, Millet); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 7 years and 6 months.

– Abdullah Kılıç (columnist, daily Meydan); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Bayram Kaya (reporter, daily Yeni Hayat); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Bünyamin Köseli (reporter, news magazine Aksiyon); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Cihan Acar (reporter, daily Bugün); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Yakup Çetin (reporter, Yeni Hayat); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu (reporter, Aksiyon); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Halil İbrahim Balta (reporter/ daily Yarına Bakış); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Habib Güler (reporter/Zaman); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Hanım Büşra Erdal (reporter/Zaman); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.

– Hüseyin Aydın (reporter/Cihan News Agency); “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” 6 years and 3 months.