Counterterrorism police in the southern province of Antalya on July 25, 2016, detained Onur Fazıl Soydal, owner of the news site Antalya, as part of a sweeping purge of journalists and others suspected of following exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, according to press reports. The government accused Gülen of maintaining a terrorist organization and "parallel state structure," which it refers to as FETÖ/PDY, that it blamed for orchestrating a failed coup on July 15, 2016.
On July 27, 2016, a criminal court in Antalya ordered Soydal and eight other journalists, who were also detained in Antalya two days prior, be 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 that CPJ was able to reach declined to comment.