The new Turkey Bülent Ceyhan. Özgür Düşünce reporter
24-Jan-2019 10:22
Left the country according to AA 24 October 2018: The court board of the İstanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court had previously ruled that the files of fugitive defendants Bülent Ceyhan and Said Sefa shall be separated since the arrest warrants issued against them had not been executed. The board also ruled that Muhterem Tanık shall be acquitted of the charge of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization". In the verdict of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, it was stated that the evidence in the case file was sound and sufficient for conviction and the ruling of the local court complied with the law. As part of this lawsuit, journalists were arrested again shortly after a verdict of release was issued for them. 25 July 2016: At least 42 journalists to be detained: State news agency Police have warrants for the arrest of at least 42 journalists, the official Anatolia News Agency (AA) reported today. Police have already detained five of the journalists on the list today, according to an English-language website. AA did not specify on what charges police sought the journalists. Many of the journalists on the reported list, which the Committee to Protect Journalists was not immediately able to verify, worked for media outlets which already taken over by pro-government trustees for their ties to the Hizmet movement, which the government has since accused of orchestrating a failed July 15, 2016, military coup. CPJ is researching the journalists' individual cases. The list AA reported is as follows:................. Bülent Ceyhan ...................... November 2015: Seventy-one journalists were dismissed early Tuesday from the İpek Media Group, which was unlawfully seized in a government-led police operation in late October with the assignment of a number of trustees to the organization, a move drawing the ire of the dismissed journalists and civil society groups. Millet daily news desk editor Bülent Ceyhan, who is also among the journalists fired, along with reporter Kamil Maman, who was assaulted by the police and then detained during the police raid on the group's headquarters, announced on Tuesday morning that they were forced to go on compulsory leave for several days after the trustees were assigned but are now not allowed to enter the media group's building. In a live Periscope broadcast, Ceyhan said private security guards blocked journalists returning from leave and a number of other journalists from entering the headquarters. The security guards allegedly work on behalf of Ethem Sancak, the owner of the pro-government Star Media Group. Maman also posted consecutive tweets announcing that the trustees had prepared a list of those "to be sacked" and that 58 people are on that list. The dismissal orders for Ankara bureau officers were issued in the evening hours. Thirteen journalists and a tea maker working in the Ankara bureau of the İpek Media Group were dismissed, raising the number of sacked journalists to 71. "Fifty-eight journalists working for Bugün TV and Kanaltürk were dismissed today by order of the trustees. Did someone say there would not be revenge?" Maman wrote in one of his tweets. In another tweet Maman stressed that an undated document has been presented to the journalists to sign showing that they have been fired. Following the government-led decision to seize Koza İpek Holding and appoint partisan trustees to take over the management of its companies on Oct. 27, police raided the İpek Media Group's headquarters in İstanbul on Oct. 28 and took the Kanaltürk and Bugün TV channels and the Kanaltürk radio station off the air. The group also owns the Bugün and Millet dailies. Despite the fact that the trustees had no authority to fire any worker, the editors-in-chief and general managers of the TV channels were told they were sacked. Furthermore, the assignment of the trustees has not been published in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette, making the takeover decision null and void. Some of the decisions to fire staff were made on a public holiday, an act which is against the law. Evaluating the manner by which the journalists were fired by the trustees on Tuesday, Erhan Başyurt, who is still legally the editor-in-chief of Bugün but who the trustees dismissed immediately after the takeover, stressed that the events have been marred by unlawfulness from beginning to end. "The mass firing of the journalists confirms that the trustees have no intention of turning the media group into a more profitable company but aim to damage its profitability. With these firings, the country's experienced journalists were blocked from doing their jobs," Başyurt noted. Speaking to Today's Zaman about the process to unlawfully cancel his and his colleagues' work contracts, Ceyhan said his name was taken off of the daily's masthead two days after the unlawful seizure on Oct. 29 and he was told that he has been dismissed despite the fact that the trustees have no authority to do that, let alone on a public holiday. “The trustees later realized that they had made an unlawful decision by dismissing the journalists on a public holiday, so they turned the dismissals into four-day compulsory leave. On Tuesday, I returned from leave to continue work at the daily at around 10 a.m. but I was stopped at the door of the building by several private security guards and police officers. They told me that my name is on the list of ‘those fired',” Ceyhan noted. “I was not allowed to enter the building. They later took me, along with my colleagues, to the security personnel office, where an employee from the human resources department was waiting for us. This person showed us a document stating that I had been fired. Yahya Şeker, who has been designated as the daily's new editor-in-chief, had signed the document. I told the person that I don't know the man who signed the document declaring I had been dismissed. I later signed it, adding a note stating that the total process of being dismissed is unlawful and that I will pursue my rights in court. After that, I, accompanied by security personnel, packed my belongings and left the building," Ceyhan said. Bugün News Editor Bilal Şahin, who was also told by the same private security guards that he had been fired early Tuesday, told Today's Zaman that he, like many of his colleagues, was also barred from entering the daily's headquarters after being informed of his dismissal. "I was told by a person from human resources that Oğuzhan Müezzino, who the trustees assigned to serve as the editorial coordinator of Bugün, made the decision to dismiss me. However, he has no such authority. I, together with my colleagues, added notes to each document stating we were fired, that the decision is unlawful and that all the fired journalists will pursue their rights by filing lawsuits. We were not even allowed to walk up to the news center and our offices alone; security personnel had to accompany us," Şahin told Today's

The new Turkey
Bülent Ceyhan.
Özgür Düşünce reporter

24-Jan-2019 10:22

24 October 2018:

The court board of the İstanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court had previously ruled that the files of fugitive defendants Bülent Ceyhan and Said Sefa shall be separated since the arrest warrants issued against them had not been executed. The board also ruled that Muhterem Tanık shall be acquitted of the charge of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization".

In the verdict of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, it was stated that the evidence in the case file was sound and sufficient for conviction and the ruling of the local court complied with the law.

As part of this lawsuit, journalists were arrested again shortly after a verdict of release was issued for them.

25 July 2016:

At least 42 journalists to be detained: State news agency
Police have warrants for the arrest of at least 42 journalists, the official Anatolia News Agency (AA) reported today. Police have already detained five of the journalists on the list today, according to an English-language website.

AA did not specify on what charges police sought the journalists. Many of the journalists on the reported list, which the Committee to Protect Journalists was not immediately able to verify, worked for media outlets which already taken over by pro-government trustees for their ties to the Hizmet movement, which the government has since accused of orchestrating a failed July 15, 2016, military coup. CPJ is researching the journalists' individual cases.

The list AA reported is as follows:................. Bülent Ceyhan ......................

November 2015:

Seventy-one journalists were dismissed early Tuesday from the İpek Media Group, which was unlawfully seized in a government-led police operation in late October with the assignment of a number of trustees to the organization, a move drawing the ire of the dismissed journalists and civil society groups.

Millet daily news desk editor Bülent Ceyhan, who is also among the journalists fired, along with reporter Kamil Maman, who was assaulted by the police and then detained during the police raid on the group's headquarters, announced on Tuesday morning that they were forced to go on compulsory leave for several days after the trustees were assigned but are now not allowed to enter the media group's building.

In a live Periscope broadcast, Ceyhan said private security guards blocked journalists returning from leave and a number of other journalists from entering the headquarters. The security guards allegedly work on behalf of Ethem Sancak, the owner of the pro-government Star Media Group.

Maman also posted consecutive tweets announcing that the trustees had prepared a list of those "to be sacked" and that 58 people are on that list. The dismissal orders for Ankara bureau officers were issued in the evening hours. Thirteen journalists and a tea maker working in the Ankara bureau of the İpek Media Group were dismissed, raising the number of sacked journalists to 71.

"Fifty-eight journalists working for Bugün TV and Kanaltürk were dismissed today by order of the trustees. Did someone say there would not be revenge?" Maman wrote in one of his tweets.
In another tweet Maman stressed that an undated document has been presented to the journalists to sign showing that they have been fired.

Following the government-led decision to seize Koza İpek Holding and appoint partisan trustees to take over the management of its companies on Oct. 27, police raided the İpek Media Group's headquarters in İstanbul on Oct. 28 and took the Kanaltürk and Bugün TV channels and the Kanaltürk radio station off the air. The group also owns the Bugün and Millet dailies.

Despite the fact that the trustees had no authority to fire any worker, the editors-in-chief and general managers of the TV channels were told they were sacked. Furthermore, the assignment of the trustees has not been published in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette, making the takeover decision null and void. Some of the decisions to fire staff were made on a public holiday, an act which is against the law.

Evaluating the manner by which the journalists were fired by the trustees on Tuesday, Erhan Başyurt, who is still legally the editor-in-chief of Bugün but who the trustees dismissed immediately after the takeover, stressed that the events have been marred by unlawfulness from beginning to end.

"The mass firing of the journalists confirms that the trustees have no intention of turning the media group into a more profitable company but aim to damage its profitability. With these firings, the country's experienced journalists were blocked from doing their jobs," Başyurt noted.

Speaking to Today's Zaman about the process to unlawfully cancel his and his colleagues' work contracts, Ceyhan said his name was taken off of the daily's masthead two days after the unlawful seizure on Oct. 29 and he was told that he has been dismissed despite the fact that the trustees have no authority to do that, let alone on a public holiday.

“The trustees later realized that they had made an unlawful decision by dismissing the journalists on a public holiday, so they turned the dismissals into four-day compulsory leave. On Tuesday, I returned from leave to continue work at the daily at around 10 a.m. but I was stopped at the door of the building by several private security guards and police officers.

They told me that my name is on the list of ‘those fired',” Ceyhan noted. “I was not allowed to enter the building. They later took me, along with my colleagues, to the security personnel office, where an employee from the human resources department was waiting for us. This person showed us a document stating that I had been fired. Yahya Şeker, who has been designated as the daily's new editor-in-chief, had signed the document. I told the person that I don't know the man who signed the document declaring I had been dismissed. I later signed it, adding a note stating that the total process of being dismissed is unlawful and that I will pursue my rights in court. After that, I, accompanied by security personnel, packed my belongings and left the building," Ceyhan said.

Bugün News Editor Bilal Şahin, who was also told by the same private security guards that he had been fired early Tuesday, told Today's Zaman that he, like many of his colleagues, was also barred from entering the daily's headquarters after being informed of his dismissal.

"I was told by a person from human resources that Oğuzhan Müezzino, who the trustees assigned to serve as the editorial coordinator of Bugün, made the decision to dismiss me. However, he has no such authority. I, together with my colleagues, added notes to each document stating we were fired, that the decision is unlawful and that all the fired journalists will pursue their rights by filing lawsuits. We were not even allowed to walk up to the news center and our offices alone; security personnel had to accompany us," Şahin told Today's

The new Turkey Bülent Ceyhan. Özgür Düşünce reporter

The new Turkey
Bülent Ceyhan.
Özgür Düşünce reporter