Journalists in court
- An Istanbul court on October 16 asked Interpol to issue a “red notice” warrant for the exiled journalists Can Dündar and İlhan Tanır, according to reports. Dündar and Tanır were defendants in the trial against the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, until their cases were separated from the main trial on April 25, when the court reached its verdict, CPJ previously documented. According to recent reports, a court accepted the prosecution’s request that the two journalists, who are being tried in absentia, be arrested by Interpol. A second court that is hearing a separate terrorism case against Dündar asked Interpol for a warrant in April, CPJ documented. Dündar, who lives in Germany, tweeted on October 16 that he has travelled to different parts of Europe without a problem and that Interpol does not appear to take these applications from Turkey seriously any more.
- The trial of Yasin Kobulan, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezoptamya News Agency (MA), will begin in Istanbul on December 26, the daily Evrensel reported. Kobulan is charged with “continuous terrorism propaganda.” The indictment said that Kobulan was “discrediting” military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), according to the report.
Journalists released
- Three journalists who were detained in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakır last week were released under judicial control on October 12, the daily Evrensel reported. The journalists were Esra Solin Dal, Semiha Alankuş and Mehmet Akdoğan. Three other journalists– Abdurrahman Gök, Lezgin Akdeniz and Cihan Ölmez–detained in the same crackdown that CPJ documented last week, were also released that day, without judicial control or pending charges, according to another Evrensel report.