Sedef Kabaş convicted of “insulting the president”, released from prison; journalist Sultan Eylem Keleş given prison term in trial she did not attend; Ahmet Kanbal acquitted but faces new investigation

 

Journalist Sedef Kabaş released after 49-day imprisonment

 

Journalist Sedef Kabaş, who was arrested in a midnight police raid on her home on 22 January hours after televised comments critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was released pending appeal at the end of the first hearing in her trial on 11 March.

 

Kabaş, who was imprisoned pending trial soon after her arrest, was behind bars for 49 days. The indictment had sought nearly 12 years in prison for Kabaş on charges of “insulting the president” and “insulting a public official” in connection with her comments regarding Transportation Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. The court ruled to sentence Kabaş to 2 years and 4 months in prison for “insulting” Erdoğan and acquitted the journalist of the “insult” charge involving the two ministers. It also ruled to release Kabaş from prison, citing the time she already served.

 

A detailed news report from the hearing can be accessed here.

 

Journalist Sultan Eylem Keleş convicted in trial she did not attend

 

Journalist Sultan Eylem Keleş was sentenced to 1 year, 2 months and 17 days in prison for “insulting the president” at the end of the second hearing of a trial held on 10 March 2022 at the İzmir 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. Announcement of the sentence was deferred.

 

The court reached its verdict even though Keleş and her lawyer were not present at the hearing. Keleş was on trial on account of some of her social media posts.

 

Ahmet Kanbal acquitted in trial, faces new investigation

 

Mezopotamya Agency reporter Ahmet Kanbal was acquitted at the first hearing of a trial held on 10 March in the southeastern province of Mardin. Kanbal was charged with “insulting a public official” on account of a tweet from April 2020 that was deemed by the prosecutor to be insulting Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.

 

The tweet, posted on the day when Soylu announced he was resigning from his job, said “rats are the first to leave a sinking ship… This is a universal saying… When rats leave, the ship sinks.” Kanbal said at the hearing, held at the Mardin 1st High Criminal Court, that his tweet did not name Soylu or mention the news of his resignation and that it was assumed to refer to Soylu only because it was posted on the day Soylu said he would resign.

 

Soon after the acquittal verdict, Mezopotamya Agency reported that Kanbal now faced a criminal investigation on the charge of “inciting the public to hatred and enmity” on account of his reports and social media posts. In his statement to the police as part of the new investigation, Kanbal said he was targeted due to his dissenting political views and that the news reports and social media posts included in the investigation file did not have any criminal content.

 

Journalist Fatih Pınar hit with tear gas during Women’s Day march

 

Photo journalist and filmmaker Fatih Pınar was hit with tear gas as he was covering the International Women’s Day march in Istanbul on 8 March. Pınar said on his Twitter account that the police intentionally sprayed his face with tear gas at close range during the march, which went ahead despite an official ban.

 

Reporter Mazlum Engindeniz faces “terrorism propaganda” investigation

 

Mezopotamya Agency reporter Mazlum Engindeniz has given his statement to the police as part of a criminal investigation launched by the Yüksekova Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the southeastern province of Hakkari. Engindeniz gave his statement to the police in Istanbul.

 

Mezopotamya reported on 7 March that Engindeniz was accused of “spreading terrorism propaganda” and that he was asked questions about some of his news reports and social media posts.

 

Police officer on trial for violently detaining Beyza Kural testifies to court

 

A police officer who is on trial for violently detaining former Bianet reporter Beyza Kural while covering a protest in 2015 has finally submitted his defense statement to an Istanbul court, at the fourth hearing of the case held on 11 March 2022.

 

The police officer, identified with his initials as N.D., gave his statement to a high criminal court in Diyarbakır, where he is based, to be submitted to the Istanbul 35th Criminal Court of First Instance, which oversees the trial. The officer was expected to give his statement at the previous hearing but he did not show up. He claimed in his defense statement that Kural refused to show her press card and denied that he and other officers used force. The trial was adjourned until 13 May.

 

N.D. and two other police officers are charged with “violating the right to freedom to work or labor.” The case was launched after a Constitutional Court judgment which found that Kural’s 2015 detention constituted a violation of the Constitution.

 

Supreme Court of Appeals overturns conviction of Evrensel journalists

 

The Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned a verdict convicting Evrensel’s former Responsible Editor Çağrı Sarı and the newspaper’s then publisher Arif Koşar to five months in jail under Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) for a news report published in the newspaper in March 2016.

 

Evrensel reported on 9 March that the Supreme Court of Appeals concluded that the elements of the crime did not exist. The original trial was concluded at a criminal court of first instance on 6 June 2017 and a regional court of appeals later rejected an appeal from the journalists’ lawyers against the verdict. The Supreme Court of Appeals’ judgment paves the way for a re-trial, which is slated to start on 28 June 2022.

 

RTÜK warns broadcasters on coverage of rising food prices

 

President of the Supreme Council of Radio and Television (RTÜK) Ebubekir Şahin warned broadcasters against “speculative statements” being made about the rising food prices. In a statement published on his Twitter account on 7 March, Şahin said: “It draws our attention that some speculative statements regarding food prices have been made in news and current affairs programs recently. Broadcasts that mislead the public and cause concern and panic are carefully followed by RTÜK.”

 

Şahin further said that it was “extremely important that our media carry the statements of relevant institutions, instead of broadcasts that disrupt price stability” and warned that sanctions would be used against broadcasters who “create misperceptions among the public” under the Law no. 6112.

 

Police probe social media accounts over posts on cooking oil prices

 

The Police Directorate announced on 6 March that it has taken legal action against 45 Twitter accounts for publishing “provocative posts containing disinformation.”

 

The Police Directorate’s statement followed comments by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu earlier in the same day. Soylu denied any shortage in cooking oil supplies and said: “Our friends would not refrain from doing whatever is necessary to identify and punish those who spread manipulations on social media.”

 

Evrensel banned from publishing public ads for 900 days

 

An advertisement ban imposed on the Evrensel newspaper by the Press Advertising Agency (BİK) marked its 900th day as of 5 March 2022.

 

On 18 September 2019, the BİK temporarily suspended Evrensel’s right to run public ads, accusing the newspaper of bulk buying that distorts their distribution figures against which measure the advertising levels are set. Evrensel’s appeals against the ban have been rejected since then and the newspaper says BİK is yet to review the corrective measures it has taken, citing pandemic conditions.

 

In addition to Evrensel, the Yeni Asya newspaper has also been subject to an indefinite ban since January 2020. The newspaper announced in February that it was cutting back on the number of pages in its print edition due to its ongoing deprivation of the advertising revenue and increasing costs of printing.

 

Prosecutor seeks aggravated life sentence for Osman Kavala

The prosecutor in the Gezi Trial, where 17 defendants including the jailed business person Osman Kavala face “coup” and “espionage” charges, has submitted his final opinion to the court, demanding that Kavala and architect Mücella Yapıcı be convicted of “attempting to overthrow the government,” punishable by aggravated life sentence.

 

Six other co-defendants, Çiğdem Mater, Ali Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman and Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi, face up to 20 years in prison for “aiding” the offence of “attempting to overthrow the government.”

 

The prosecutor’s final opinion, submitted to the court ahead of the next hearing in the trial slated for 21 March, also asks the court to separate the case files of 9 defendants -- Henri Barkey, Can Dündar, Pınar Öğün, Gökçe Yılmaz, Handan Meltem Arıkan, Hanzade Hikmet Germiyanoğlu, Mehmet Ali Alabora, Yiğit Aksakoğlu and İnanç Ekmekçi – who live abroad and have not attended the court hearings. More details can be found in our report.

 

Inter-University Council files complaint against academic for content of dissertation

 

The Inter-University Council (ÜAK) has filed a legal complaint against academic Mehmet Baki Deniz on account of the content of a dissertation that he submitted for recognition of equivalence, according to a news report published on 9 March.

 

The Council said in its complaint to a state prosecutor that Deniz’s dissertation included violations of the articles 299 and 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code, which cover the crimes of “insulting the president” and “denigrating the Turkish State,” and of the Anti-Terror Law. It was not clear whether a criminal investigation has been launched upon ÜAK’s complaint.

 

Deniz completed his dissertation, titled “Who Rules Erdoğan’s Turkey? Business Power and the Rise of an Authoritarian Populist,” at the Sociology Department of Binghamton University State University of New York in 2019. He then submitted it to ÜAK for a certificate of equivalence in Turkey but ÜAK rejected the application in August 2021, citing its “provocative and harsh” style. Deniz has appealed the ÜAK decision at the Council of State.

 

Court hearings suspended in Istanbul due to bad weather

 

Court hearings slated for 10 and 11 March 2022 were suspended after the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) declared the judges and prosecutors serving in Istanbul to be on administrative leave due to snow and cold weather.

 

As a result, the trial of Etkin News Agency (ETHA) reporter Pınar Gayıp and editor Semiha Şahin on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda” and that of former and current chief editors of İleri Haber news portal, Doğan Ergün and İzel Sezer on charges of “insult,” “libel” and “recording and exposing to the public private conversations” were postponed without a court hearing. The trial of renowned stage actor Genco Erkal on the charge of “insulting the president,” which was due to resume on 11 March, was also postponed.

 

Trial of Tunahan Turhan, Taylan Öztaş resumes

 

The fifth hearing in the trial of 38 defendants, including Özgür Gelecek reporter Taylan Öztaş and ETHA reporter Tunahan Turhan, on the charge of “violating the Law no. 2911 on Public Meetings and Demonstrations” was held at the Anadolu 13th Criminal Court of First Instance on 8 March. The court adjourned the trial until 27 September 2022 at the end of the hearing.

 

Öztaş and Turhan were arrested two days after covering an August 2019 protest in Kadıköy, Istanbul against the appointment of “trustees” to take over the administration of some municipalities from elected mayors. They were released after giving their statements to the prosecutor and subsequently put on trial for “violating the Law no. 2911.”

 

Trial of Aziz Oruç, Dicle Müftüoğlu adjourned until June

 

The trial of journalists Aziz Oruç and Dicle Müftüoğlu and two other co-defendants on terrorism charges resumed at the Ağrı 2nd High Criminal Court on 9 March. The defendants and their lawyers did not attend the hearing, at the end of which the court adjourned the trial until 3 June 2022.

 

Oruç was arrested on 11 December 2019 in Doğubeyazıt district of Ağrı after crossing into Turkey from the border with Iran. He was then put in pre-trial detention on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda.” HDP Doğubayazıt District Co-Chair Abdullah Ekelek, who was with Oruç when he was arrested and Muhammet İkram Müftüoğlu, who was arrested in a raid on his home, were jailed pending trial and charged with “aiding and abetting.” They were all released in the course of the trial.

 

Access to PİRHA and Yeni Yaşam websites blocked

 

Access to the websites of Pir News Agency (PİRHA) and Yeni Yaşam newspaper was blocked upon a decision issued by the Hatay 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace. Yeni Yaşam’s website was recently blocked on 28 January as well.

 

The Hatay court’s decision came despite a Constitutional Court pilot judgment on 27 October 2021, which established that court orders blocking access to news websites constituted a violation of the Constitutional rights and asked the Parliament to revise the legislation that allows such court orders.

 

Trial of Can Selman gets under way

 

The first hearing in the trial of local journalist Can Selman and 15 LGBTI+ activists who were detained during the 1st Eskişehir Pride Parade on 30 June 2021 was held at the Eskişehir 8th Criminal Court of First Instance on 7 March 2022. The defendants are charged with “violating the Law no. 2911 on Public Meetings and Demonstrations.”

 

Selman said in his defense statement that he had gone to the venue of the parade to cover it but that the parade was dispersed by the time he arrived. “I have decided to go back but the police attacked me as I was on my way home and arrested me even though I told them that I was a journalist,” he said. The trial will resume on 26 April 2022.

 

At least 57 journalists and media workers in prison

 

Following Sedef Kabaş's release after 49 days in detention, as of 12 March 2022, at least 57 journalists and media workers are in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence.

 

The full list can be accessed here.