Nine journalists imprisoned pending trial since October 2022 for journalistic activities have been released after the first hearing. The trial was adjourned until 5 July 2023

ANKARA

The first hearing in the trial on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” of Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) Managing Editor Diren Yurtsever, MA Ankara News Editor Deniz Nazlım, MA reporters Berivan Altan, Selman Güzelyüz, Hakan Yalçın, Emrullah Acar, Ceylan Şahinli, JinNews reporters Habibe Eren, Öznur Değer, who were placed in pre-trial detention in October 2022 as part of an Ankara-based investigation; of Yeni Yaşam newspaper distributor Hamdullah Bayram who was placed in pre-trial detention on 20 March 2023 and of MA reporter Zemo Ağgöz and former MA intern Mehmet Günhan, who were released under judicial control measures was held at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court on 16 May 2023.

The journalists on trial and their lawyers attended the hearing, which P24 monitored. The hearing was attended by many people, including representatives of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Turkey, the International Press Institute (IPI), Modern Journalists Association (ÇGD) Ankara Branch, Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), Disk Basın-İş labour union, Human Rights Association (İHD) Ankara Branch, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Mezopotamya Women Journalists’ Platform (MKPD), Kaos-GL Association and the Polen Ecology Collective.

The indictment was summarized following the establishment of the identity of defendants. Before the statements for the defense, lawyers for journalists requested that the hearing begin with statements by Öznur Değer and Emrullah Acar, who were to deliver their statements in Kurdish. The presiding judge said that he had his own schedule for the proceedings and therefore the hearing would begin with the statement by Diren Yurtsever. The request of the lawyers for the defense was accepted upon their insistence.

“It is a journalist’s job to be where the news is”

JinNews reporter Öznur Değer delivered her defense statement in Kurdish through an interpreter. Değer said “I am Öznur Değer. I am a woman, a Kurd and a journalist. I define myself with these three identities. I am actually here today because of my three identities. Therefore, I will speak for my defense based on these three points.”

The presiding judge interrupted Değer during her statement to ask “Do you speak Turkish? Are you delivering your statement in Kurdish of your own will, because you express yourself better?” Değer responded “I am speaking in my mother tongue because I can express myself better.”

Değer continued, “In the indictment, my use of the expression ‘Kurdistan’ in my written reporting and digital media posts was evaluated as a desire on my part to establish a state. This is a vacuous, inconsistent and false claim. This is because Kurdistan is a geographical region, not a state. There is no state that is directly described as such. My family and I refer to that geographical region as Kurdistan. Therefore, Kurdistan is not the name of a state but of a geographical region. Given that politicians visiting the region freely use the name Kurdistan, why should it be subject to allegations when I use it? I use the term Kurdistan as a geographical term in my reporting, just as I would use Trakya [to refer to north-western Turkey]. If it is not a crime to refer to Trakya as a geographical region, it should not be a crime to refer to Kurdistan as such. The indictment cites my social media posts as an element of crime. I may speak in my defense in Kurdish here, but I may not tweet in Kurdish. I posted a tweet in Kurdish on the International Mother Language Day that read ‘Mother languages should be kept alive.’ The indictment cites this tweet as an element of crime. I have been accused on PKK membership for tweeting in Kurdish on Mother Language Day. How is this a crime?”

Değer added that her travels for reporting and Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) reports concerning them had been cited as evidence of the charges continued her statement as follows: “Bank transfers between me and my friends on trial here have been cited as evidence of the charge according to MASAK reports. These include copyright payments for reporting. It is stated that I bought 60 plane tickets and travelled a lot. I am a journalist and I travel constantly because of my job. According to the indictment, I prepared dozens of news items in Sivas, İstanbul, Bingöl, Dersim, Diyarbakır and Konya. All of this is public knowledge. My reports from these locations can be found on our website, as well as in the indictment. It is very natural for a journalist to travel. It is a journalist’s job to be where the news is. A journalist lives on the road. She lives out of her suitcase. In any case, how can the freedom of travel be made subject to accusations? Could I not travel, even if I were not a journalist? Free travel is a right.”

Değer’s lawyer Resul Temur spoke after his client. Temur said that one of his clients, journalist Zemo Ağgöz, who is free pending trial had come to the hearing with her child and requested that Ağgöz be exempted from this hearing. The court accepted the request.

“You cannot portray journalism as crime and us as criminals”

MA reporter Emrullah Acar also delivered his defense statement in Kurdish through an interpreter.

Acar said the following: “When I used to work as a journalist in Ankara, I followed dozens of trials in this very courthouse. We are journalists, we follow the news. Seven of my news items are cited as evidence of the charge in the indictment. I have prepared nearly 500 news items published under my name throughout my career. None of my reporting contains anything that may constitute a crime. It is not just us on trial here, it is also the Mezopotamya Agency. The indictment claims we are ‘supporting the terrorist organization’ and ‘receive directives from the organization.’ We receive directives from no one.”

Acar stated that all his social media posts subject to the charge consisted of news items and demanded his release.

MA Managing Editor Diren Yurtsever delivered her defense statement after Emrullah Acar.

Yurtsever stated that she had to keep her statement short due to the time limit and spoke as follows: “One could well respond to the points about secret witnesses, our reporting and our social media posts, but it is not worth addressing them. Even the indictment establishes that what we do is journalism. I have been a journalist for eight years now. Mezopotamya Agency is a formally established organization that is still active. It pays taxes. Is it not a crime to collect taxes if it is a [terrorist] organization? We are all on trial here for working for Mezopotamya Agency. What we do is journalism. You cannot portray journalism as crime and us as criminals." The presiding judge interrupted Yurtsever’s defense statement and asked “Did you make stories depicting the PKK positively? I ask out of curiosity, you see, because I do not follow the agency.”

Yurtsever answered the presiding judge, “You say you do not follow the MA and its reporting. Why not? We report on whatever is on the public agenda. I am a journalist, I report on whatever is to the public’s benefit. That is how it should be.”

Yurtsever said that her press card with the MA had been cited as evidence of crime and rejected a photo showing her holding a microphone with the MA logo being cited in support of the charge. Yurtsever asked “Can a journalist’s microphone be accepted as an element of crime?”

Speaking about the MASAK report, Yurtsever said that she used a bank account belonging to her mother because of her student debt to the Loans and Dormitories Institution (KYK), upon which the president of the panel of judges asked her “Is it an organizational stance not to pay back KYK debts?”

The presiding judge reportedly asked Yurtsever “Who picks the reporters? For instance, you are all single except for Ms. Zeno Ağgöz.” The question caused laughter in the courtroom.

“We are being punished for practicing journalism”

In his defense statement, imprisoned MA Ankara News Editor Deniz Nazlım said that his phone had been tapped for seven months as part of thew investigation and yet the recordings contained no elements of crime. “Those running the investigation told me that they followed me 24/7, that I was not an organization member and that I should come to an agreement with them. I am at the thesis stage of my studies at the anthropology department at the Beytepe Campus of Hacettepe University. I travel between home, work at the agency and the university. The indictment, which makes much about secret activities describes us as ‘so-called journalists.’ According to the indictment, I am a ‘so-called journalist.’ There are many press organizations observing the hearing today, so I must have fooled them too. According to the investigation I deceived my family, my instructors and my colleagues, everyone except for those running the investigation. Look, there are MA reporters here following the hearing, to the back of the room. If you want to know how we pick reporters, you can ask them how they applied. In our profession, everyone knows one another from the field, whether they work for the mainstream press or the alternative press.”

Nazlım spoke about prison conditions and said, “We male journalists imprisoned pending trial stay in single cells with an hour of yard leave a day. These conditions are very severe, we request to be released pending trial.”

Imprisoned MA reporter Berivan Altan said that there were other cases in which she was being tried on similar charges and stated that the trial was duplicitous. Altan stated that like Yurtsever, she had to use the bank account of a sibling because of her student loan and said “This is not a true trial, because what is subject to trial is us being journalists. This is not a true indictment. I have covered the 10 October Ankara Train Station Massacre Case as well as ecology news. I have reported on dozens of hearings from this very courthouse. I did all this for the MA and reported on the news as an employee of the MA. But today this is being criminalized and I am on trial at the same courthouse for being an MA employee where I used to follow the news as an MA employee.”

Imprisoned MA reporter Ceylan Şahinli said, “Under this case file it is not just us who are being punished but also our news sources and families. We are being punished for practicing journalism. The aim is to limit the space for journalism. We are being punished for not thinking the same as some other people.”

“The indictment breaches the most fundamental rules of the law”

Following Şahinli, imprisoned MA reporter Selman Güzelyüz delivered her defense statement. Stating that the secret witness included in the file had claimed to be a former employee of the MA, Güzelyüz said “The secret witness said I had reported on the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). How could reporting on a legally established political party such as the HDP be construed as a subject to charges? All journalists report on this political party. The chairs, MPs of a political party being arrested is a news-worthy development. That aside, I usually reported from Ankara with a focus on the economy. The secret witness has made false claims on this point too. Not using my own debit card was cited as a point against me in the MASAK report. I did not use my own card because my account is under a lien and I declared this point in my statement to the prosecutor’s office.”

The court took a short recess following Güzelyüz’s defense statement. Delivering her defense statement after the recess, JinNews reporter Habibe Eren said “The reason why we are here is all about the political climate.” Eren continued: “All our reporting is being subjected to charges in today’s legal order. We are being kept in prison as punishment for stating the facts.”

Eren objected to the statements by the secret witnesses and said “Go ask children in the old town in Ankara Citadel, even they will tell you we are journalists. Therefore, I do not accept the secret witnesses using information that is publicly available against me. This indictment relies on so many secret witnesses that it brings charges with unequivocal claims. We took law courses when studying journalism, and the indictment breaches the most fundamental rules of the law. The secret witnesses said that we attend protests, but they were not even asked which protests.”

Eren said she had been a journalist for nine years and rejected claims that they prepared news upon directives, saying “A journalist identifies the subject of the news according to the public agenda.” Eren rejected the impugned crime and requested her release.

Delivering his defense statement after Eren, MA reporter Hakan Yalçın said “Whenever there are elections in Turkey, we see that journalists are put on trial and are taken to courthouses. 34 journalists have been put in pre-trial detention in the last 11 months.” Criticizing their salaries or copyright payments from organizations for which they work being cited as evidence to the charge, Yalçın said “I am a journalist. Of course, I do not work for free.” Yalçın rejected the impugned crime and requested his release.

Of the journalists in pre-trial detention, Yeni Yaşam newspaper distributor Hamdullah Bayram, who was imprisoned on 20 March 2023, delivered his defense last. Regarding the bank transfers cited as subject to the charge in the indictment, Bayram said “I distribute newspapers. I get TL 1.5 per copy. I transferred the revenue from the newspapers I sold to the accountant for the distribution company.” Bayram rejected the charge and requested his release.

The trial adjourned until July

After Bayram’s statement, the court cited the late hour and ruled to postpone the testimony of the secret witness code name K8Ç4B3L1T5 to the next hearing. The court upheld its ruling despite the objections from defendants’ lawyers.

Following the completion of the defense statements of the imprisoned journalists, the prosecution requested the continuation of remand on grounds of suspicion of flight and the current situation of evidence.

Following the prosecution’s request, defendant Mehmet Gürkan, who had been released pending trial, delivered his defense statement. Rejecting the charges, Günhan requested that the judicial control measures imposed on him be lifted.

Due to the hearing being confined to a single day, lawyer Resul Temur had to deliver a statement on behalf of all lawyers present.

Temur said “Our request to have the secret witness testify today was directly relevant to the imprisonment. Prosecutors have long used the expression ‘so-called’ to discredit defendants. The constant use of expressions such as ‘so-called news’ and ‘so-called journalist’ is one of the points that show that this trial is not judicial but political in nature. The ‘KCK’s Press Committee’ has been mentioned for the first time, in relation to journalists who reported on journalists being thrown out of helicopters in Van. The Directorate of Security had prepared a leaflet for internal training, which listed the MA. All claims are drawn from that leaflet. Those claims form the basis of the charge today. The charge has been the same ever since.”

Temur pointed out that MA reporter Cemil Uğur was facing trial on similar charges and said “Later the Constitutional Court ruled that journalists could not be put on trial due to this news item. This decision has set a precedent.” Temur said that the starting point of the investigation was unclear and requested the release of his clients.

Following the statements, the court took a recess of 20 minutes.

After the recess, the court announced its interim order, releasing all imprisoned journalists pending trial, with the exception of Hamdullah Bayram.

The court ruled to separate the case file for Hamdullah Bayram and to merge it with the ongoing case file in Şanlıurfa; to lift judicial control measures on Zemo Ağgöz and Mehmet Günhan; to inquire into whether there are ongoing investigations or prosecutions into MA and JinNews; to have Ferhat Çelik and Sadiye Eser testify as witnesses and for the secret witness to testify at the next hearing. The trial was adjourned until 5 July 2023.