Atalay, for whom a detention warrant had been issued on Oct. 31, was detained on Nov. 11 at the Atatürk Airport, where he landed after returning to Turkey.

Istanbul Prosecutor Murat İnam from the Press Crimes Investigation Bureau referred Atalay to a court, demanding that he be arrested on charges of “committing a crime on behalf of a terrorist organization despite not being a member of it.” The prosecutor also noted in his referral statement that Atalay had “moved Cumhuriyet from its past Kemalist editorial policy.”

On Oct. 31, nine Cumhuriyet journalists --Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, Editorial Advisor Kadri Gürsel, Cumhuriyet Foundation board members Önder Çelik, Bülent Utku, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Güray Öz, Hakan Kara, Musa Kart, chief editor of the newspaper’s book supplement Turhan Günay were arrested on Oct. 31 on the basis of the same accusation levelled at Atalay.

Atalay’s arrest comes after the arrest of Togay Okay, a journalist with the Özgür Gelecek daily on terrorism-related charges and of Bodrum journalist Ayhan Karahan on charges of insulting the Turkish president on Nov. 8.

In another development regarding attacks on the press, Olivier Bertrand, a reporter for the French news site Les Jours (lesjours.fr) was detained in Gaziantep province with Les Jours editors saying no formal charges for his detention being cited. A US journalist, Lindsey Snell, had been arrested after the declaration of State of Emergency near the Syrian border. She was deported back to the US on Oct. 12.

P24 has only recently learned of Snell’s release and subsequent deportation. Her release and the three recent arrests bring the number of journalists in prison in Turkey to 144.

Prosecutor demands life for Özgür Gündem journalists

The investigation into the shuttered Özgür Gündem daily was completed on Nov. 11. Nine Özgür Gündem journalists, four of whom are under arrest, are being accused of “membership in an armed terror group,” “propagandizing for a terror organization” and “disrupting the integrity and the unity of the state.” The prosecutor has demanded three counts of aggravated life sentences and an additional prison term of between 6.5 to 17.5 years for the journalists.

Former Taraf journalist denied food in courthouse

Mehmet Baransu, who has been under arrest for over 620 days and risks up to 52 years on charges of exposing state secrets over a report published in the Taraf newspaper in 2013 sharing meeting minutes from a National Security Council (MGK) meeting where the council decided to list the Fethullah Gülen movement as a national threat, was brought to the İstanbul Courthouse on Nov. 8 for the next session in the hearing. Observers present at the courthouse have said that Baransu was not given anything to eat or drink for more than 12 hours as he awaited the session which began five hours later than scheduled.

Observers at the trial have said that requests from lawyers representing Baransu to give him food were rejected repeatedly by officials. The session was adjourned until Feb. 8 with the 10th Hİgh Criminal Court accepting Baransu’s request for a delay on the grounds that he was in no physical condition to defend himself.

Cumhuriyet journalist accused of terror propaganda

The Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office has formally charged Cumhuriyet journalist Mahmut Oral with “terrorism propaganda” regarding a news report about the assassination for human rights lawyer and head of Diyarbakır Bar Association Tahir Elçi, which was published in a Diyarbakır newspapers.

370 associations shut down under State of Emergency

The Interior Minsitry announced the closure of 370 civil society organizations on Nov. 12 on the grounds that they had links to terrorist organizations. The ministry did not disclose a list of the organizations shut down.

Journalistic organizations, including the Free Journalists’ Association and the Center for Social Research and Education (TAREM), the founding organization behind the independent news portal Dokuz8, were among those shut down on Nov. 12. One of the associations closed was Gündem Çocuk, a leading children’s rights advocacy group which has also been an important source for journalists working on childrens’ rights, sexual violence against minors and similar issues.

Access bans on websites also continued under Turkey’s State of Emergency. Access to gergerfirat.com, a local Adıyaman news portal which recently uncovered and made public allegations of sexual harassment at a religious state school in the province, was blocked  on Nov. 12.