The new Turkey
Burak Akbay.
Founder of daily Sözcü

The trial of nine columnists, executives and staff members of Sözcü daily concluded on 27 December 2019 at a criminal court in Istanbul. The 37th High Criminal Court convicted seven of the nine defendants of “knowingly and willingly aiding the terrorist organization FETÖ/PDY without being its member,” handing down prison terms between 2 years and 1 month and 3 years, 6 months and 15 days.

This was the 11th hearing in the case. Columnist Emin Çölaşan and reporter Gökmen Ulu, who do not reside in Istanbul, addressed the court via the courtroom video-conferencing network SEGBİS. The newspaper’s publisher, Burak Akbay, who lives abroad, was not present. The rest of the defendants as well as defense lawyers were in attendance in the courtroom.

The prosecution told the court they reiterated their final opinion of the case, submitted ahead of the 7th hearing of the case, in April.

After hearing the last words of the defendants, the court announced its verdict.

Columnists Emin Çölaşan and Necati Doğru were each sentenced to 3 years, 6 months and 15 days while the daily’s Editor-in-Chief Metin Yılmaz and the editor of Sözcü’s online edition Mustafa Çetin were each sentenced to 3 years and 4 months. The online edition’s editorial coordinator Yücel Arı, reporter Gökmen Ulu and accounting department employee Yonca Yücekaleli were each sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison.

The court ruled to separate the file against Akbay, whose defense statement has still not been taken. An arrest warrant the court issued for Akbay is still in place. Mediha Olgun was acquitted.

During the 10th hearing, the defense lawyers had requested a review of the case file and the prosecutor’s final opinion in light of the amendment introduced in Article 7 of the Law on the Fight Against Terrorism (TMK) with the judicial reform package. The final opinion was seeking prison sentences between 5 to 10 years for Emin Çölaşan, Necati Doğru, Gökmen Ulu, Metin Yılmaz, Mustafa Çetin, Yücel Arı and Yoca Yücekaleli. The prosecutor recommended a lesser sentence for Olgun based on effective remorse provisions, citing her cooperation throughout the investigation and the trial. Referring to the defendants’ statements throughout the trial, the prosecutor had argued in his final opinion that “harshly criticizing FETÖ in the newspaper, even openly insulting it, does not constitute proof of not supporting FETÖ.”

A Turkish court on Thursday urged Interpol to issue a red notice for the owner of Sözcü, one of the few Turkish newspapers still willing to openly criticise the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Evrensel newspaper reported .

The court accepted prosecutors’ closing statement, requesting a red notice for Burak Akbay and sentences from five years to ten years for staffers of Sözcü, an independent left-leaning daily,  including veteran journalists Necati Doğru and Emin Çölaşan, over links to Gülen movement. 

The Turkish government accuses the movement of establishing a parallel state in Turkey via its devotees in public sector jobs before orchestrating a failed coup in 2016. More than 130,000 public servants were sacked via government decrees following the coup attempt. 

Sözcü is known for criticisms of the Gülenists that stretch back to a time when the group was known to be close to Erdoğan’s government.

The court separated the case file of Burak Abay, who is outside Turkey, and called on Interpol to issue a red notice for his arrest. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for June 14.

Defence lawyers objected to the decisions, saying they had never reviewed the legal opinion, Sözcü said . 

“You have not read the indictment yet,” defence lawyer Celal Ülgen told the judges. “The legal opinion was published today in Sabah newspaper though it was not submitted to us.”

According to Ülgen, the closing statement is mainly a punishment to those who oppose Erdoğan.

In December, the U.S. magazine Foreign Policy named Turkey among several countries abusing Interpol's red notice system to track down, frighten and potentially detain dissidents.

The trial into the executives and employees of Sözcü newspaper on terrorism-related charges resumed on 15 March at the 37th High Criminal Court of Istanbul.

A recent indictment that accuses Sözcü columnists Emin Çölaşan and Necati Doğru, the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Metin Yılmaz, website news coordinator Yücel Arı and website editor Mustafa Çetin of “aiding the terrorist organization ‘FETÖ’ without being part of its hierarchical structure” was merged in January  with the ongoing case into the daily’s former website news director Mediha Olgun, Financial Affairs Manager Yonca Yücekaleli, Izmir correspondent Gökmen Ulu and former publisher Burak Akbay on the charges of “leading an armed terror organization,” “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “aiding FETÖ while not being its members.” An arrest warrant is still in place for Akbay, who is abroad.

This was the first courtroom hearing in the case after the two files were merged.

P24 monitored the hearing, where Metin Yılmaz, Mustafa Çetin, Necati Doğru, Yücel Arı, Gökmen Ulu, Mediha Olgun and Yonca Yücekaleli were in attendance, as well as defense lawyers. Emin Çölaşan addressed the court via the courtroom video-conferencing system SEGBİS from Ankara.

At the end of the previous hearing, the court had ruled to hand over the case file to the prosecutor for the final opinion to be prepared. The prosecution requested additional time for their final opinion because of the vast extent of the file.

The defendants then told the court that they would not make any statements at this point. Mediha Olgun asked to be acquitted.

Defense lawyers requested that the court ask for a new expert opinion, which the court rejected. The lawyers also requested the expansion of the investigation and said the submission of the final opinion without the completion of the case file would lead to violations of the right to defense and the right to a fair trial.

Burak Akbay’s lawyer requested the lifting of the arrest warrant against her client.

The prosecution requested that the court reject all requests and the continuation of the arrest warrant for Akbay.

Issuing its interim ruling following a brief recess, the court rejected the defense lawyers’ requests. The court agreed to grant additional time to the prosecution for their final opinion and adjourned the trial until 18 April.