Appearing before the court on the 100th day of his imprisonment, Merdan Yanardağ was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for “terrorism propaganda.” The court ruled to release Yanardağ after convicting him

CANSU PİŞKİN, İSTANBUL

The first hearing in the trial of Tele 1 TV Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” and “praising an offense or an offender” was held at the İstanbul 30th High Criminal Court on 4 October 2023. Yanardağ had been imprisoned pending trial over his televised remarks since June 2023.

P24 monitored the hearing. Yanardağ was brought to the courthouse by the gendarmerie from Marmara Prison, where he was being held. Many people were at the courthouse to observe the hearing, including Republican People's Party (CHP) and Green Left Party (YSP) MPs, representatives of press organizations and journalists. However, due to the low seating capacity of the courtroom, many journalists and attendees, as well as representatives of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), International Press Institute (IPI), Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) could not attend the hearing.

Yanardağ, who made his defense statement following identification, rejected the charges. Yanardağ said, “This case has been filed so that the repressive authority that wants to destroy the freedom of the press and expression can scare and intimidate people,” and added that all he had done during the 50-minute broadcast was to criticize the policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

“The prosecutor’s office takes an army of trolls to be the nation”

Yanardağ stated that what he had said on the show had not caused public outrage and went on as follows: “We have a prosecutor’s office that takes an army of trolls to be the nation. They make noise and then the prosecutor’s office acts. This is what happened to Ayşenur Arslan too. The prosecutor considers this to be public outrage.”

Yanardağ recounted that he was arrested after a 62-second long section of the 50-minute long program that became a trending topic on social media and said: “I was notified of the indictment on 27 July. When we objected to the arrest order, we had presented the recording of the whole program. But the prosecutor filed the indictment based on the 62-second long montage, instead of the original recording. There is no approach or assessment in the program, which led to my imprisonment, that praises the actions of the PKK terrorist organization. The government is using İmralı [Prison where Abduallah Öcalan is held] as a political tool to interfere in elections and politics. It threatens political actors using İmralı. I did not make up [imprisonment in] isolation. In an interview, Galip Ensarioğlu of the AKP had blamed Selahattin Demirtaş and said ‘He is the reason why [Abduallh Öcalan] is in isolation.’ I commented on Ensarioğlu’s statement during the programme. Ye the indictment does not mention Galip Ensarioğlu at all.”

Yanardağ completed his defense statement by requesting his acquittal and the dismissal of the case.

Yanardağ’s lawyers also pointed out that elements of the impugned crime had not existed and requested the immediate acquittal of their client. Bilgütay Hakkı Durna, one of Yanardağ’s lawyers said, “There should be no resort to remand in a case that should end in acquittal.” Durna added that there were no judicial control measures that could further apply to the case and requested that 100 days of imprisonment be taken into account and his client be released.

Prosecutor demands sentencing for Yanardağ

Delivering their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor requested sentencing for Yanardağ on the charge of “terrorism propaganda.” The prosecutor demanded that Yanardağ be kept in pre-trial detention, given the quality and nature of the offense. The court then took a recess of half an hour.

Delivering his counter statement against the prosecutor’s opinion, Yanardağ spoke as follows: “A prosecutor cannot argue for the usurping of a constitutional right. The prosecutor’s opinion implies a narrowing of the press’ field of activities. Democracies are regimes in which criminals also have rights. The prosecution is requesting that Turkey evolve towards a totalitarian regime. This much is clear from the opinion. There can be no peace in a country where there is no justice. I think the prosecution should act with this responsibility in mind. Here, it is journalistic activities that are on trial. They want to create a virtual criminal. Following the logic of Nazi courts, they manufacture crimes based not on actions but on actors.”

Yanardağ’s lawyer Başar Yaltı delivered his counter statement against the opinion and said, “Trials should be carried out in line with the concept of justice. This court will today decide whether there is the rule of the law in Turkey or not” and repeated their request for acquittal.

Asked for a final statement, Yanardağ said “The prosecutor wants to establish a precedent for the future. A precedent that means ‘Do not produce such programs, do not debate, tread carefully.’ I request my acquittal.”

The court ruled that the sentence “He has read so much, he has become a philosopher” regarding PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, which Yanardağ spoke on the TV broadcast to constitute “praise” and sentenced the journalist to 2 years and 6 months in prison for “terrorism propaganda.” The sentence was raised from the minimum duration foreseen in the law on the grounds of “the way in which the crime was committed, the gravity of the danger it gave rise to, the intensity of the action of the defendant and the weight of the intentional fault.” The court ruled to release Yanardağ after sentencing him, based on the duration spent in pre-trial detention.

Background of the case

On the TV program called “4 Soru 4 Yanıt” broadcast on Tele 1 on 20 June 2023, Merdan Yanardağ had criticized AKP MP Galip Ensarioğlu’s statement regarding the solution process on Kurdish question. A section of Yanardağ’s speech was shared on social media by Mehmet Ali Çelebi, former CHP MP who joined the AKP. Following Çelebi’s post, Yanardağ was targeted on social media.

Yanardağ was arrested by police officers who arrived at the channel’s premises while he was on air on 26 June. Upon his transfer to the courthouse on 27 June, Yanardağ was imprisoned pending trial by the İstanbul 7th Criminal Court of Peace on the charge of “terrorism propaganda.” The indictment concerning Yanardağ was filed on 11 July and charged Yanardağ with “terrorism propaganda” and “praising an offense or an offender.” The indictment stated that there had been a lot of online interaction with the video recording in question and that “the words spoken had caused public outrage as understood from publicly delivered reactions and interactions.”