Turkey

2017

  
Security forces stand guard atop a building in Istanbul as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gives a speech in favor of amendments to the constitution that would increase his powers, March 26, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 2, 2017

Cumhuriyet journalists respond to indictment Cumhuriyet journalists Kadri Gürsel and Murat Sabuncu, who were listed in an indictment against the Turkish daily earlier this week, reacted to the accusations presented to the court, online newspaper Demokrat Haber and Cumhuriyet reported yesterday.

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Abdullah Kılıç (Courtesy of Kılıç family)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 26, 2017

Istanbul court orders release, pending trial, of at least 19 journalists Istanbul’s 25th Court for Serious Crimes today ordered the release, pending trial, of at least 19 journalists imprisoned in direct relation for their work following the July 2016 failed military coup, according to news reports. The court did not drop any charges against the…

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A demonstrator walks around a bonfire to mark the spring festival of Newroz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır, March 21, 2016. Ethnic Kurds marked the occasion last year with a demonstration calling for the resumption of peace talks with the government. (Reuters/Sertac Kayar)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 19, 2017

Security forces detain reporter in southeastern Turkey Security forces in the southeastern province of Mardin today detained Dihaber reporter Murat Verim, the news agency reported. Dihaber said the arrest was part of an ongoing terrorism investigation.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses local government officials in Ankara, January 19, 2017. (Yasin Bulbul/Presidential Press Service/Pool via AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 12

Editor sentenced to nine years in prison The 7th Court for Serious Crimes in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır yesterday sentenced Aydın Atar, former news editor for the shuttered Kurdish-language daily newspaper Azadiya Welat, to nine years, four months, and 15 days in prison on charges of “propagandizing for a [terrorist] organization,” the news…

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Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 5

Erdoğan says jailed Die Welt correspondent ‘German agent,’ Kurdish separatist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on March 3 said that Deniz Yücel, the Turkey correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt and a dual citizen of Germany and Turkey jailed in Turkey since February 14, was a “German agent” and a member of the Kurdistan…

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"Free Deniz" is written across the Berlin headquarters of publisher Axel Springer Markus Schreiber, February 28, 2017. (AP/Markus Schreiber)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 26

Shots fired at newspaper office, no one injured An unknown assailant in a moving taxi fired two shots from a handgun at the building housing the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet in Istanbul this morning, Cumhuriyet reported. A police investigation is in progress, the report said.

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A float depicting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stands ready for the upcoming Rose Monday carnival parade in Mainz, Germany, February 21, 2017. The signs say 'democracy' and 'freedom of speech.' (Reuters/Ralph Orlowski)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 19

Detention of Die Welt Turkey correspondent complicates relations with Germany The detention of Deniz Yücel, Turkey correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt, has complicated relations with German officials, the socialist daily Evrensel, the German news website Handelsbatt Global, and the pro-Turkish-government Daily Sabah reported. According to a February 21 Handelsbatt Global report, German Chancellor…

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A court on February 14, 2017, handed columnist Hasan Cemal, seen here at a colleague's funeral in Istanbul on October 30, 2015, a suspended sentence of one year and three months in prison on charges of propagandizing for a terrorist group in one of his columns.

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 12

Publisher closes magazine for cartoon lampooning Moses The publisher of the cartoon magazine GırGır announced today that he was closing down the magazine after its publication of a cartoon depicting Moses irritating his followers wandering in the desert by talking too much and bragging about parting the Red Sea sparked outrage on social media, including…

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chairs a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara, January 31, 2017. (Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Press Service/Pool via AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 5

German court upholds partial ban on poem satirizing Erdoğan A court in the German city of Hamburg today upheld a previous court’s ban on comedian Jan Böhmermann’s reciting 18 of 24 verses of a poem satirizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that the comedian recited on television last year, according to press reports. Erdoğan pressed…

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On the 10th anniversary of his death, January 19, 2017, carnations, candles, and signs mark the spot in Istanbul where journalist Hrant Dink was murdered. The sign reads "Long live the brotherhood of people. We will not forget, we will not forgive." (Reuters/Osman Orsal)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 29

Columnist investigated for referendum comments Prosecutors in Istanbul opened an investigation into Bekir Coşkun, a columnist for the pro-opposition daily newspaper Sözcü, regarding remarks he made in a column about a coming referendum on whether the constitution should be amended to increase the president’s powers, Dogan News Agency reported.

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2017