Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 9, 2019
Journalist in jail for insulting presidentOn June 13, Yavuz Selim Demirağ, a columnist for the nationalist daily Yeni Çağ, started an 11-month and 20-day prison sentence for “insulting the president,” according to his column published the same day. The column featured an update from the newspaper that said that the journalist had turned himself and…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 2, 2019
German journalist accused of insulting president A prosecutor in Ankara has started an investigation into German journalist Süheyla Kaplan who is accused of “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and terrorism propaganda, Deutsche Welle reported. Evidence cited against the journalist includes a political cartoon of the Turkey’s president that she shared on Twitter, social media post…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 26, 2019
More journalists beaten in Turkey On May 25, three men beat Selahattin Önkibar, a columnist for the ultranationalist opposition news website Odatv, near his house in Ankara, the leftist daily Evrensel reported. Önkibar is the fifth journalist to be attacked in Turkey this month, in apparent retaliation for their work, CPJ has found.
Adana shooting is fourth attack on Turkish press in two weeks
Istanbul, May 24, 2019–An unidentified gunman today shot Turkish journalist Hakan Denizli in the leg, according to reports. Denizli, founder of the local daily Egemen, was taken to a hospital and the police are looking for his attacker, according to reports. The shooting, which took place outside the journalist’s home in the city of Adana,…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 19, 2019
7 journalists sentenced in Özgür Gündem trial An Istanbul Court on May 21 sentenced seven journalists from the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem to prison after they were convicted of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization,” the Mezopotamya News Agency reported.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 12, 2019
Journalists beaten, hospitalized in Ankara and Antalya At least six men used baseball bats to beat Yavuz Selim Demirağ, a columnist for the nationalist daily Yeni Çağ, in Ankara on the evening of May 10, the same day that he appeared as a guest on a political talk show on the nationalist Türkiyem TV, his…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 5, 2019
Journalist sentenced to 10 months in prison An Istanbul court on May 7 sentenced Cansu Pişkin, a reporter for the leftist daily Evrensel, to 10 months in prison for “making a target of a civil servant for terrorist organizations,” the television news website Medyascope reported. The court suspended Pişkin’s sentence barring a repeated offense in…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 28, 2019
Cumhuriyet appeal rejected by local court An Istanbul court on April 30 rejected a stay of execution request from lawyers representing eight staff from the daily Cumhuriyet, the news website T24 reported. The lawyers asked authorities to not act on a local appeals court ruling that upheld their sentencing until the Supreme Court had ruled…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 21, 2019
Cumhuriyet staff hand themselves over to prison authorities Six former employees from the daily Cumhuriyet handed themselves into authorities today, after the legal paperwork for their failed appeal was entered into Turkey’s judicial system and warrants were issued for their arrest, according to their lawyer and reports.
Turkey can jail Cumhuriyet staff ‘at any minute,’ lawyers say
Istanbul, April 22, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Turkish authorities to not take eight former employees from the daily Cumhuriyet into custody until the Supreme Court has heard their colleagues’ appeal. At a press conference in Istanbul today, lawyers representing the employees said they would ask authorities to delay acting on a local…