Ahmet Ayva sent to prison as Supreme Court upholds his sentence; Sinan Aygül handed jail term for “insulting” his attackers; two journalists acquitted in two separate cases; prosecutor requests conviction for Furkan Karabay and Faruk Eren at the first hearing

 

Journalist İdris Özyol sent to prison

Sözcü TV employee Serap Belovacıklı and Antalya Ekspres newspaper and Kanal V employee İdris Özyol were sentenced to 1 year and 8 months of imprisonment for the crime of “violating the confidentiality of communications.” The verdict was upheld by the appellate court and has become final for Özyol. The appellate court has overturned the verdict for Belovacıklı. Belovacıklı’s case will continue at the appellate court.

İdris Özyol, who had a criminal record, has surrendered to the prosecutor for execution of sentences rendered by the Antalya Courthouse on 23 January 2024 following the issuing of the order for his detention. Özyol is to spend 38 days in prison.

In 2020, journalist İdris Özyol published correspondence on a WhatsApp group, which included insulting remarks concerning journalist Serap Belovacıklı written by then Antalya Journalists’ Association president Mevlüt Yeni. There was a public outcry against the sexist expressions employed in the correspondence.

Following this development, Serap Belovacıklı filed an “insult” complaint against former association president Mevlüt Yeni. Mevlüt Yeni filed a complaint against Serap Belovacıklı and İdris Özyol over disclosing the WhatsApp correspondence. Mevlüt Yeni was sentenced to an administrative fine of TL 3,000 in the insult case. Meanwhile, Belovacıklı and Özyol were sentenced to 1 year and 8 months of imprisonment on the charge of “violating the confidentiality of communications.” The verdict has become final upon being approved by the appellate court.

Journalist Ahmet Ayva sent to prison

Journalist Ahmet Ayva was sent to prison on 26 January 2024 after a sentence he had been given on the charge of "terrorism propaganda" was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeals. Ayva announced on his X (Twitter) account on the night of 25 January 2024 that he was arrested. Disk Basın-İş labor union announced that Ayva, a member of their union, was taken to the Fulya Police Station in Istanbul and was to be transferred to the Istanbul Courthouse the next morning.

After spending the night in custody, Ayva was taken to the Istanbul Courthouse on Friday. The journalist was sent to the Metris Prison in Istanbul, his lawyer told P24. Ayva is expected to be transferred to the Marmara (formerly Silivri) Prison in the coming days to serve his sentence of 3 years and 6 months he had been given on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” in a case filed in 2018 over his social media posts.

Ayva said the case was initially filed on the charge of “insulting the president” on account of his social media posts but that the charge was later amended to “terrorism propaganda.”

Journalist Sinan Aygül given jail term for “insulting” bodyguards who attacked him

The trial of Bitlis Association of Journalists President Sinan Aygül for “insulting” two bodyguards of Tatvan District Mayor Emin Geylani, one of whom is a police officer, who assaulted him, was held at the Tatvan 1st Criminal Court of First Instance.

Following the simple trial procedure, the court sentenced Aygül to 2 months and 5 days of imprisonment.

In the reasoned decision announced on 9 January 2024, the court stated that the imprisonment sentence was not commuted to a fine because of the “criminal personality of the defendant” given the previous sentences he has received.

Aygül said he would appeal the ruling.

Journalist Sinan Aygül was attacked by two bodyguards of Tatvan District Mayor Emin Geylani, one of whom is a police officer, in Tatvan, Bitlis on 17 June 2023 and later a case was filed against Aygül for “insulting” Yücel Baysalı, one of the bodyguards.

Meanwhile, the third and final hearing in the trial of bodyguards Engin Kaplan and Yücel Baysalı for “insult” and “willful injury” over the attack on Aygül was held at the Tatvan 1st Criminal Court of First Instance on 25 January 2024.

The prosecutor submitted their final opinion on the case and requested sentencing for Baysalı for the crimes of “insult” and “willful injury,” and sentencing for Kaplan for the crime of “willful injury.”

The court sentenced the two defendants each to 1 year 5 months and 15 days of imprisonment for the crime of “willful injury” and acquitted Baysalı of “insult” on grounds of “lack of unequivocal evidence.” The court ruled to defer sentence separately for each defendant.

Aygün said they would appeal to the Constitutional Court against the decision.

Journalist Sibel Hürtaş acquitted of “insulting a public official”

The seventh hearing in the trial of journalist Sibel Hürtaş on the charge of “insulting a public official” over a complaint filed by Brigadier General Subutay Adaş was held at the Ankara 19th Criminal Court of First Instance on 24 January 2024.

Hürtaş did not attend the hearing, while her lawyer Barış Barışık was present.

The prosecutor repeated their final opinion on the case and requested Hürtaş’s acquittal.

The court ruled to acquit Hürtaş on the grounds that “the impugned action was not defined as a crime in the law.”

Journalist İsmail Saymaz acquitted in trial over article

The third hearing in the trial of journalist İsmail Saymaz on charges of “marking those assigned with the fight against terrorism as target” and “insulting a public official” over his article titled “Gezi Davası’ndaki AKP’li hâkimin eşi FETÖ itirafçısıymış” (“Spouse of AKP-supporter judge in Gezi Trial was a FETÖ informant”) was held at the İstanbul 24th High Criminal Court on 23 January 2024.

İsmail Saymaz and his lawyers were present at the hearing.

The prosecutor for the hearing repeated their final opinion submitted at the previous hearing and requested sentencing.

Delivering a defense statement against the prosecutor’s opinion, Saymaz said that the judge had sought to stand for parliament for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the 2018 elections and his photos were used in his campaign, so that the impugned crime could not be committed by using the photo in question.

Saymaz’s lawyer Turgut Kazan said that the decision to appoint judges was published in the Official Gazette with their full names and therefore using the name of a judge in a news item could not be considered marking them as targets.

Announcing its verdict, the court ruled to acquit İsmail Saymaz of the charges.

Journalist Nurcan Baysal acquitted

The first hearing in the retrial of journalist Nurcan Baysal on the charge of “publicly denigrating the Turkish nation, state, parliament, government and judicial organs” was held at the İstanbul 55th Criminal Court of First Instance on 25 January 2024. Baysal was put on trial for her news item titled “Cizre’deki evlerin içinden: ‘Kızlar biz geldik siz yoktunuz’ yazıları, yerlerde sergilenen kadın çamaşırları” (“From inside the homes in Cizre: Graffiti on walls says ‘Girls we came, but couldn’t find you’, women’s underwear exhibited on the floor”), which was published on T24 news site on 7 March 2016.

Baysal and her lawyer Emine Özhasır parties were present at the hearing, which P24 monitored.

Submitting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor requested Baysal to be acquitted on the grounds of lack of unequivocal, credible, and tangible evidence free from all forms of doubt. Baysal and her lawyer stated they agreed with the opinion and repeated their request for acquittal.

The court ruled to acquit Baysal on the grounds that the “legal elements of the impugned crime had not formed.”

Click here for a detailed report.

Journalist Can Ataklı faces trial over YouTube video

The İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office has filed an indictment on the charge of “inciting the people to hatred and enmity” against journalist Can Ataklı over his expressions in a YouTube video recording he shared on his social media accounts on 25 December 2023.

The İstanbul 5th Criminal Court of First Instance has accepted the indictment. The date of the first hearing was set for 19 March 2024.

Evrensel newspaper’s case against BİK dismissed

The İstanbul 2nd Administrative Court has ruled to dismiss the court case filed by the Evrensel newspaper against the Press Advertising Agency’s (BİK) cancellation of the newspaper’s right to publish official announcements and adverts.

In its decision, the court found the BİK’s argument that “buying more than one copy of a newspaper is a crime” to be rightful and dismissed Evrensel’s case on grounds that the newspaper had “not met the minimum sales requirement” due to “359 copies being delivered to various political parties and companies.”

JinNews Managing Editor Safiye Alağaş detained

JinNews Managing Editor Safiye Alağaş was detained as she was travelling from Siirt to Diyarbakır on 28 January.

Alağaş has been reportedly taken to Sinanlı Police Station in Diyarbakır’s Bismil district due to her case dated 2011 overseen at the İstanbul 10th High Criminal Court.

Journalist Mahmut Altıntaş detained again after filing a complaint

Mezopotamya news agency (MA) reporter Mahmut Altıntaş was detained on suspicion of “terrorism propaganda” in Adıyaman on 27 January 2024.

Taken to the Provincial Security Directorate, Altıntaş asked of social media posts consisting news items from MA, Xwebun newspaper and his own reports.

After his statement was received, journalist Altıntaş was sent to the Adıyaman Courthouse for his statement to be received at the prosecutor’s office. The police officers battered Altıntaş after he refused to bow his head at the entrance of the courthouse.

The prosecutor’s office sent Altıntaş to the judgeship where he was released under international travel ban and obligation to check-in a police station twice a week.

After being released, Altıntaş went to a hospital to get a medical report to prove the police violence. Altıntaş went to the Altınşehir Police Station with the medical report to file a complaint against the police officers. One of the police officers who battered Altıntaş also filed a complaint, claiming Altıntaş had battered them. Following the police officer’s complaint, Altıntaş was taken into custody as per prosecutor’s order for “resisting a police officer” at the police station where he had filed the complaint.

Having spent the night at the police station, Altıntaş was sent to the Adıyaman 2nd Criminal Judgeship by the prosecutor’s office to be placed in pre-trial detention. The court decided to release journalist Altıntaş under the obligation to check-in a police station twice a week on 28 January.

Access block to Kurdish Xwebûn newspaper’s website

The website of Xwebûn newspaper, which is published in Kurdish, has been blocked as per a decision issued by the Erzurum 2nd Criminal Judgeship of Peace on 25 January 2024.

The newspaper has started to use the “xwebun.org” instead of the blocked “xwebun1.org.”

Access block to Ekşi Sözlük lifted after Constitutional Court decision

Access to Ekşi Sözlük, which had been denied following the Maraş Earthquakes of 6 February 2023 on grounds of “protecting national security and public order” has been restored.

In an information note titled “22 January 2024 eksisozluk.com open,” the website’s CEO Başak Purut announced that the access block decision to the eksisozluk.com address imposed by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) had been lifted following the Constitutional Court’s violation ruling.

Access to Ekşi Sözlük was blocked upon the decision of the Ankara 4th Criminal Court of Peace on 22 February 2023. Ekşi Sözlük had objected to the court’s decision and finally took the case to the Constitutional Court. On 11 January 2024, the Constitutional Court ruled that the access block decision violated the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under article 26 of the Constitution and conveyed a copy of its decision to the Ankara 4th Criminal Court of Peace for a retrial.

After the decision, Ekşi Sözlük used domain names such as eksisozluk1923.com, eksisozluk1999.com and eksisozluk111.com to avoid censorship.

ECtHR 2023 report: Turkey tops the list of “violations”

According to the 2023 report of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), 68,450 cases were pending judgment with the court as of the end of 2023. Turkey had the highest number of applications to the court in 2023, with 23,400 cases.

The report states that at least 72 of the 78 judgments concerning Turkey had found violations. No violations were found in only three decisions, while three cases ended with a friendly settlement. Turkey was sentenced the most for violations of the right to a fair trial and the right to security and freedom.

Russia followed Turkey in second place with 12,450 cases. Ukraine was the third country from which most applications were received in 2023, at 8,750 cases. Romania was fourth with 4,150 cases and Italy fifth with 2,750 cases.

Prosecutor requests sentencing for journalists Furkan Karabay and Faruk Eren at the first hearing

The trial of Gerçek Gündem newspaper Managing Editor Faruk Eren and editor Furkan Karabay on the charge of “marking those assigned with the fight against terrorism as target” over their news items and social media posts began with the first hearing held at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court on 23 January 2024.

Furkan Karabay attended the hearing via the judicial videoconferencing system, along with his lawyer Enes Hikmet Ermaner. Faruk Eren’s lawyer Kerem Altıparmak was present in the courtroom.

In his defense statement, Karabay said that the indictment had bene drafted using printouts of the news items and posts and added, “However, the indictment does not identify which of my expressions marked İrfan Fidan as a target to which organization.”

The prosecutor for the hearing announced their final opinion on the case and requested sentencing for Karabay on grounds that his defense was not “credible” and that the posts had “exceeded the limits to freedom of communication.” The prosecutor for the hearing similarly requested sentencing for Eren and argued that as he is a manager of the news website, the posts could not have been shared without Eren’s knowledge.

Announcing its interim order, the court ruled to uphold the judicial control measures on journalists and adjourned the trial until 5 March 2024.

Prosecutor requests sentencing for journalist Sultan Eylem Keleş

The sixth hearing in the trial of journalist Sultan Eylem Keleş on charges of “insulting a public official” and “resisting to prevent fulfillment of duty” was held at the İstanbul 56th Criminal Court of First Instance on 25 January 2024.

 

Keleş’s lawyer was present at the hearing, which P24 monitored. Keleş did not attend the hearing.

 

The prosecutor submitted their final opinion on the case and requested sentencing for Keleş for both charges. Keleş’s lawyer requested time to set up a counter-statement against the prosecutor’s opinion

 

The court accepted the request and adjourned the trial until 28 May 2024.

MA reporter Ahmet Kanbal appears before court for “terrorism propaganda”

The first hearing in the trial of Mezopotamya news agency (MA) reporter Ahmet Kanbal on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” over his social media posts was held at the Mardin 2nd High Criminal Court on 23 January 2024.

Journalist Kanbal and his lawyer Erdal Kuzu attended the hearing.

Following the reading out of the summary indictment, Kanbal delivered his defense statement. Kanbal stated that the post in question was his and spoke as follows: “This is not my first trial for journalistic activities. I see that once more; it is the profession of journalism that is on trial in this case. The Syrian Democratic Forces released a statement about nine of their fighters who were killed in a helicopter crash. The agency I worked for reported on this and I shared the report. To find anything other than journalistic activities in this is an exercise in futility.”

Lawyer Erdal Kuzu said that his client was detained five or six times every year for his journalistic activities and added, “My client is being tried for producing objective news. His social media post did not include photos of people in military camouflage. However, the indictment depicts it as though it did. The Mardin Directorate of Security wrote to the prosecutor’s office and said the photo was not used. This indictment was filed despite there being no such document.”

The prosecutor requested time to draft their final opinion on the case.

The court accepted the request and adjourned the trial until 1 February 2024.

Journalist Hayri Demir’s retrial on “terrorism” charges adjourned until February

The third hearing in the retrial of journalist Hayri Demir on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda” was held at the Ankara 15th High Criminal Court on 24 October 2024. The retrial had begun after the 22nd Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice overturned the verdict in the original trial.

One open and one secret witness who testified at the hearing said they knew Demir had reported from Syria.

The court ruled to await the outcome of the writ conveyed to the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office to obtain the outcome of its investigation into Demir and adjourned the trial until 21 February 2024.

The Office for the Investigation of Crimes Against the Constitutional Order of the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against Demir, who had followed the Syrian Civil War on the ground in 2015, after the memory cards containing photos and footage he obtained in Syria were stolen from his home and turned over to the Ankara Directorate of Security.

The verdict in the original trial was issued on 21 December 2022. Demir was acquitted of “membership in a terrorist organization.” However, he had been sentenced to 1 year, 21 months and 22 days of imprisonment for the crime of “terrorism propaganda” over a news item concerning the contents of a documentary and a video for a song.

On 14 March 2023, the 22nd Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice, which examined the appeal against the verdict, overturned the ruling acquitting Demir of the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” on grounds of the legal necessity of merging the investigation launched in 2023 against Demir on suspicion of “membership in a terrorist organization” by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office with the case in question. The imprisonment sentence for “terrorism propaganda” was also overturned with a decision to “increase it by one half by applying provisions for repeated crimes.”

Journalist Zeynep Kuray’s trial adjourned until June 2024

The fifth hearing in the trial of journalist Zeynep Kuray and nine others on the charge of “violating the Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations” was held at the İstanbul 39th Criminal Court of First Instance on 25 January 2024.

No parties attended the hearing.

The court adjourned the trial until 25 June 2024.

Yeniçağ newspaper Managing Editor Erdem Avşar’s trial adjourned until March 2024

The third hearing in the trial of Yeniçağ newspaper Managing Editor Erdem Avşar on the charge of “defamation” and “insult” over the complaint of Turkuvaz Media Group Vice President of the Board of Directors Serhat Albayrak was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 23 January 2024.

No parties attended the hearing.

The prosecutor repeated their final opinion on the case presented at the previous hearing and requested sentencing for Avşar for “insult” and “repeated defamation.”

Co-plaintiff Serhat Albayrak’s lawyers said they agreed with the opinion and requested sentencing for Avşar.

The trial was adjourned until 26 March 2024.

Avşar is facing trial over the news item titled “27., 28., 29. ve 30. tweetlerin içindeki sır belli oldu: Sedat Peker, Ali Fuat Taşkesenlioğlu’nun Arkasındaki İsmi Açıkladı” (“Secret Behind Tweets 27, 28, 29 and 30 Revealed: Sedat Peker Announces the Figure Behind Ali Fuat Taşkesenlioğlu”), which was published on the Yeniçağ newspaper’s website on 27 August 2022.

Journalist Sezgin Kartal’s trial adjourned until April 2024

The fourth hearing in the trial of Karşı Mahalle reporter Sezgin Kartal on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” was held at the İstanbul 22nd High Criminal Court on 25 January 2024.

 

Kartal and his lawyer Berfin Karaşah attended the hearing, which P24 monitored.

 

Witnesses for Kartal, who went to the border region for journalistic activities, were heard at the hearing. The presiding judge asked witness Zeynel Şimşek “Have you been to the east with Kartal?” Witness Şimşek said they had travelled to Şanlıurfa and after staying there for two days, Kartal had returned to İstanbul.

 

After Şimşek, the court heard witness Tülay Korkutan. Korkutan said, “We went to Suruç with women in 2014. Sezgin [Kartal] was taking photos and footage concerning the refugees there. He did not cross over into Syria. There were very strict security measures in place. Villages on the border had been evacuated and we were in a village not directly on the border. There were Alevi organizations and labor unions there. Journalists were interviewing people about conditions in the camps for reporting.”

 

Kartal’s lawyer Karaşah said they would like to present journalist Haydar Koçak and Baki Düzgün as witnesses to the court in the next hearing.

 

The court ruled to hear the witnesses at the next hearing, kept the ban on Kartal travelling abroad in place and adjourned the trial until 25 April 2024.

At least 37 journalist and media workers in prison

Following the imprisonment of journalist Ahmet Ayva, as of 26 January 2024, there are at least 37 journalists and media workers in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence.

The full list can be accessed here.