The court has adjourned the trial until 22 June 2023 to investigate whether Eylül Deniz Yaşar, who is charged with “terrorism propaganda,” holds a press card

HAYRİ DEMİR, ANKARA

The first hearing in the trial of journalist Eylül Deniz Yaşar on charges of “terrorism propaganda” was held at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court on 25 April 2023.

Journalist Yaşar and her lawyer Teoman Özkan attended the hearing, which P24 monitored.

Delivering her defense following identification, Yaşar rejected the impugned crime. Emphasizing that she had attended the press statement held over the death of Ulaş Bayraktaroğlu, who was fighting the ISIS in Syria, on Yüksel Street in Ankara on 11 May 2017 as a journalist, Yaşar said, “I recorded the demonstration that day. I sent it to those who wanted to report it. I am still one of the AFP’s reporters in Turkey. I continue to record images of things I think of as newsworthy. If reporting on the news is a crime, I continue to commit this crime. Because I practice journalism. I refuse the charge of engaging in terrorism propaganda.”

Yaşar also said that the social media posts subject to the charges did not belong to her: “Although the posts on the account named Seyri Sokak are not mine, the indictment attributes them to me. Another investigation had been launched into the same posts, which resulted in a decision not to prosecute. Seyri Sokak is an account I used to follow. The images I record are used to report the news by many venues. The images I recorded were featured in many social media accounts and the mainstream media. Seyri Sokak is a video sharing platform. Therefore, it is normal for them to use the videos I recorded, but I did not post the tweets in question.”

Following her defense, Yaşar was shown a photo taken during the press statement and Yaşar said she was the person in the photo.

The presiding judge asked Yaşar, “Did you chant any slogans? Did you participate in the press statement?” Yaşar responded “I was there as a journalist.”

The presiding judge also asked Yaşar whether she was registered on the Social Security System at the date of the press statement subject to the trial. Yaşar said that as she worked as a freelancer at the time, she was not registered on the Social Security System.

In response to the presiding judge asking “Did you have any news items published at the time? Could you present them to the court” Yaşar said, “Yes, I have dozens of pieces that can be found on Google. One of my news items was published in Gazete Duvar at the time. I can present these to the court.”

Responding to the presiding judge’s question on whether she held a press card, Yaşar said she did not hold the turquoise card issued by the Presidency of Communications of the Office of the President, which had not been issued for a long time to many journalists, but she held the card issued by the Journalists Union of Turkey.

Requesting her acquittal, Yaşar completed her defense saying, “Please don’t put journalism on trial in this manner.”

Lawyer Teoman Özkan stated that the elements of the impugned crime did not exist and requested Yaşar’s acquittal.

The court ruled to investigate whether Yaşar held a press card and a letter to be sent to the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Ankara Directorate of Security for the images subject to the trial to be submitted with the court.

The trial was adjourned until 22 June 2023.

Background of the case

The indictment submitted for the first time had claimed that Yaşar had attended the press statement held over the death of Ulaş Bayraktaroğlu, who was fighting the ISIS in Syria, on Yüksel Street in Ankara on 11 May 2017. However, the indictment was rejected on the grounds that there was no sufficient evidence to establish that the person in the images was Yaşar.

The same indictment was nevertheless submitted with the court for a second time. It claimed that the images depicted “partial resemblance in the structure of the nose and the jawline.”