Council of Europe calls for release of Demirtaş and Kavala; order issued for the detention of YouTube broadcaster Diamond Tema; RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin targets Medyascope

Council of Europe calls for release of Demirtaş and Kavala

The Council of Europe (CoE) has called for the release of former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gezi trial. Demirtaş and Kavala have been imprisoned despite European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments.

The Committee of Ministers of the CoE took up the matter of Demirtaş and Kavala at its meeting from 11-13 June 2024. The committee repeated its call for the release of Demirtaş and Kavala.

The Committee of Ministers had started the infringement procedure against Turkey in 2022 over the life imprisonment sentence issued to businessperson and philanthropist Osman Kavala, and communicated the matter to the Committee of Ministers. In its judgment issued on 8 February 2024, the ECtHR ruled to prioritize examining the second application by Kavala and announced that it had communicated its various questions to the ministry with the request for a response by 16 July.

Order issued for detention of YouTube broadcaster Diamond Tema over comments about “sharia”

The İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation on suspicion of “inciting the people to hatred and enmity” against “Diamond Tema,” who appeared on the YouTube channel named “Yer6 Film” as a guest and debated “sharia” with social media figure Asrın Tok.

In an announcement on social media, Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç said that an order for the detention of Tema, who lives abroad, had been issued. In his statement, Tunç said “The İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office has launched an ex officio investigation on suspicion of ‘inciting the people to hatred and enmity’ over the insulting, ugly and provocative expressions regarding the prophet that were used in the video content shared on the social media account named ‘Yer6’ on 16 June 2024, right after the content was shared and an order for the detention of suspect Diamant Tema was issued, as he lives abroad. Provocative and ugly expressions about Islam and our beloved prophet are unacceptable. The investigation is being run with the utmost care.”

The investigation against Diamond Tema was filed after he debated pro-sharia Asrın Tok on the YouTube channel named “Yer6.” On the show, Tema argued against Tok, who holds that Turkey should be governed by sharia law.

RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin targets Medyascope

Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) President Ebubekir Şahin has targeted reporting on the LGBTI+ by Medyascope in a statement on X and said “We are keeping an eye on you.”

An article titled “Tatilde izleyebileceğiniz 6 LGBTİ+ film-dizi önerisi” (6 recommended LGBTI+ films and series to watch over the holidays) and made viewing suggestions for the nine-day long Eid holiday.

Upon this, Şahin wrote the following on his social media account: “It is not as though we are unaware of the deviant campaigns being run by some Western-funded media organizations to dissolve our institution of the family and to de-personify our young people. Our monitoring experts work over the holidays too. We are keeping an eye on you. We will continue our fight against productions that are against our faith, culture, traditions and customs and collaborators who broadcast these.”

Decision not to prosecute Alican Uludağ over the “MASAK’s ISIS report” news item

A decision not to prosecute was issued for journalist Alican Uludağ, in the investigation filed on suspicion of “obtaining state secrets” over his reporting on the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) report on money transfers by ISIS from Turkey.

In a social media post, Uludağ said, “After two years, a decision not to prosecute has been issued in in the investigation filed against me on suspicion of ‘obtaining state secrets,’ for writing about the MASAK report on ISIS transferring money from Turkey.”

In the news item titled "MASAK'ın IŞİD raporu Türkiye üzerinden para transferi yapıldı" (MASAK’s ISIS report: Money was transferred from Turkey) Alican Uludağ wrote that the MASAK report stated that ISIS had paid for the explosives it bought from Lebanon by a monetary transfer (worth 400,000 dollars) from Turkey.

At least 29 journalists and media workers in prison

As of 21 June 2024, there are at least 29 journalists and media workers in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence.

The full list can be accessed here.