Counterterrorism police in the southern province of Antalya on July 25, 2016, detained Onur Fazıl Soydal, the owner of the news website Antalya, as part of a sweeping purge of journalists and others suspected of following exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, according to press reports. The government accuses Gülen of maintaining a terrorist organization and “parallel state structure” (or FETÖ/PDY, as the government calls it) within Turkey that it blames for orchestrating a failed July 15, 2016, military coup.
On July 27, 2016, a criminal court in Antalya ordered Soydal and eight other journalists also detained in Antalya two days prior jailed, pending trial on charges they were FETÖ/PDY propagandists, according to press reports. The reports gave no further details.
CPJ tried to contact defense lawyers for the nine journalists. Those lawyers that CPJ was able to reach declined to provide the organization with further information or documentation.