{"id":3238,"date":"2015-12-21T13:56:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T12:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sven-teuber.info\/wordpress\/?p=3238"},"modified":"2015-12-21T13:56:52","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T12:56:52","slug":"we-came-here-to-defend-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sven-teuber.info\/wordpress\/we-came-here-to-defend-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"We came here to defend journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cumhuriyet daily\u2019s D\u00fcndar, G\u00fcl arrested over report on Syria arms transfer<\/h3>\n

The editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet<\/a><\/strong> daily, Can D\u00fcndar, and the paper’s Ankara representative Erdem G\u00fcl have been arrested on charges of being members of a terror organization, espionage and revealing confidential documents — charges that could see them spend life in prison.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

<\/p>\n

„We have been arrested!“ D\u00fcndar tweeted after the 7th Penal Court of Peace ruled to arrest the two men pending trial, complying with prosecutor \u0130rfan Fidan’s request. D\u00fcndar and G\u00fcl were taken to the Silivri Prison after the court’s decision. „Don’t worry, these are medals of honor for us,“ D\u00fcndar was also quoted as saying by Cumhuriyet’s website.<\/p>\n

D\u00fcndar and G\u00fcl’s supporters chanted: „Free press cannot be silenced“ inside the courtroom after court announced its decision, Do\u011fan news agency video footage showed. Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP<\/a>) leader Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu said the decision marked a „black day“ for democracy and freedoms.<\/p>\n

CHP \u0130stanbul deputy Mahmut Tanal<\/a> said the arrests mark a \u201ccoup\u201d staged against the press. \u201cIt is the massacre of the law to launch an investigation and now rule for the arrest of the two journalists with special orders,\u201d Tanal said, referring to the government\u2019s role in the prosecution of the journalists.<\/p>\n

Opposition People\u2019s Democratic Party (HDP) also condemned the arrests in a joint statement by its co-leaders, who said the ruling once again revealed that judicial mechanisms are under the influence of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan<\/a> and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.<\/p>\n

If tried and found guilty on the charges, the sentence for being a member of a terrorist organization can reach a maximum of 10 years, while that for espionage can be up to 20 years. Revealing confidential government documents carries the highest punishment of all the charges — life imprisonment. Both delivered their defense and a court decision is expected soon.<\/p>\n

The Platform for Independent Journalism (P24) immediately condemned the court decision as a severe blow to freedom of press in Turkey. \u201cIs there still anyone who would say Turkey media freedom<\/a>?\u201d it asked on its Twitter account.<\/p>\n

The International Press Institute (IPI) said \u201cjournalism was arrested,\u201d after the court\u2019s decision. IPI’s Turkish National ComM\u0130T<\/a>tee said in a press statement on Thursday that it is the job of journalists to obtain and publish documents that would serve the public interest. \u201cAs journalists, we stand in solidarity with D\u00fcndar and G\u00fcl, who just performed journalism,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Stating that Turkey, which uses charges such as terrorism, membership in a criminal network and espionage while prosecuting journalists, witnessed yet another black day with respect to democracy and press freedom, the statement called on Turkish authorities to immediately carry out reforms that would secure press freedom in the country.<\/p>\n

D\u00fcndar and G\u00fcl arrived at \u0130stanbul Courthouse on Thursday morning to testify as part of a terrorism investigation. The investigation was launched after Cumhuriyet published photos in May of weapons which it said were transferred to Syria in trucks operated by the National Intelligence Organization (M\u0130T).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came here to defend journalism. We came here to defend the right of the public to obtain the news and their right to know if their government is feeding them lies. We came here to show and to prove that governments cannot engage in illegal activity and defend this,\u201d D\u00fcndar told the press outside the courthouse.<\/p>\n

The articles, published on the daily’s front page, reported that the trucks in question were intercepted by gendarmes on two occasions in January 2014 after prosecutors received tip-offs that they were illegally carrying arms to Syria. There have been allegations that the arms were going to extremist groups fighting against the Syrian regime. Ankara, on the other hand, insisted that the trucks were carrying aid to Syrian Turkmens and branded their interception as an act of \u201ctreason\u201d and \u201cespionage.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00fcndar continued, \u201cFirst the government responded saying: \u2018No there is nothing of the sort. This is aid. Then it was revealed that these were guns. Then they said that these were going to the Turkmens. Then the present deputy prime minister, Tu\u011frul T\u00fcrke\u015f said, \u2018I swear to God they [the trucks] were not going to the Turkmens.‘ \u2026 Then later the Turkmens said they did not receive any arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president is acting as if this is a personal lawsuit, saying I will be following this, and I will not let it go. He, personally, is the complainant. I do not know why the president alone is the complainant. This secret is a secret that belongs to the state, it is not a secret that belongs to him personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan personally sued D\u00fcndar and is requesting that he be given a life sentence, an aggravated life sentence and an additional 42-year term in prison on charges related to a variety of crimes, ranging from espionage to attempting to topple the government and exposing secret information.<\/p>\n

For the coverage of the M\u0130T trucks, President Erdo\u011fan has publicly targeted D\u00fcndar, saying: „The individual who has reported this as an exclusive story will pay a heavy price for this,“ in a television interview with state broadcaster TRT late in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are being charged with being spies, the president is saying that we are traitors to the state. We are not spies, we are not traitors, we are not heroes; we are journalists,\u201d D\u00fcndar added outside the courthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a crime that has been committed by the state that they are trying to cover up,\u201d he said, adding that the state is understandably in panic over the reporting done by the paper for it has the potential to reach an international audience and show the world the crimes committed by the Turkish state.<\/p>\n

Following the Cumhuriyet report, Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu said it is \u201cnone of anybody’s business\u201d what the trucks contained. Speaking in a live broadcast on the Habert\u00fcrk news station in May, Davuto\u011flu said, \u201cThis is a blatant act of espionage.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the publication of video stills as well as video footage, Erdo\u011fan lashed out at Cumhuriyet and D\u00fcndar for publishing the evidence and publicly vowed that D\u00fcndar would \u201cpay a heavy price\u201d for his report.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the trucks were carrying six steel containers which contained a total of 1,000 artillery shells, 50,000 machine gun rounds, 30,000 heavy machine gun rounds and 1,000 mortar shells. All of this is registered in the prosecutor’s file on the M\u0130T truck case, the report said.<\/p>\n

The photos, published on the daily’s front page in late May, show steel containers filled with mortar shells and ammunition underneath boxes of medicine. The daily also published a video showing the containers on trucks being opened and searched by gendarmes.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Cumhuriyet was awarded the prestigious Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Prize for its contribution to defending press freedom.<\/p>\n

There was an outpour of support for the veteran journalists from their colleagues and politicians. Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Sezgin Tanr\u0131kulu, Mahmut Tanal, Bar\u0131\u015f Yarkada\u015f, Onursal Ad\u0131g\u00fczel, Ali \u015eeker and G\u00fcrsel Tekin were among the many CHP representatives that came to the courthouse to show their solidarity; People’s Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Garo Paylan was also present. Journalist Hasan Cemal, writer Pelin Batu and Confederation of Revolutionary Workers‘ Unions (D\u0130SK) Secretary-General Arzu \u00c7erkezo\u011flu also came to the courthouse to stand by D\u00fcndar and Erdem.<\/p>\n

The hashtag #CanD\u00fcndarErdemG\u00fclYaln\u0131zDe\u011fildir (Can D\u00fcndarErdemG\u00fclarenotalone) began trending on Twitter after the two were referred for arrest. The Turkish Journalists‘ Association (TGC) and Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) also gave a written statement saying that the Cumhuriyet daily performed its duty of informing the public and that it is not the job of journalists to protect the government.<\/p>\n

A 2014 report by Human Rights Watch warned that under Erdogan\u2019s rule Turkey has seen the erosion of human rights via a crackdown on media freedom, dissent and a weakening of the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Many journalists in the country are facing harsh prison terms for exposing corruption in the government and surveillance by the Turkish state.<\/p>\n

Egdogan\u2019s regime has also attempted to silence social media by blocking YouTube and Twitter on a number of occasions.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cumhuriyet daily\u2019s D\u00fcndar, G\u00fcl arrested over report on Syria arms transfer The editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet daily, Can D\u00fcndar, and the paper’s Ankara representative Erdem G\u00fcl have been arrested on charges of being members of a terror organization, espionage and … Weiterlesen →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"status","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[318,319],"class_list":["post-3238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-status","hentry","category-for-your-information","tag-can-duendar","tag-human-rights-watch","post_format-post-format-status"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3CWBT-Qe","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3878,"url":"https:\/\/sven-teuber.info\/wordpress\/the-freedom-of-thought-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":3238,"position":0},"title":"The Freedom of Thought Report","author":"steuber","date":"10. 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