Selman Çiçek. Correspondent for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DIHA)

The new Turkey Selman Çiçek. Correspondent for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DIHA)
20-Feb-2020 10:59
18 December 2019: 7 journalists standing trial in Diyarbakır acquitted The fifth hearing of a trial where seven journalists and a social media user were charged with “making those involved in combating terrorism a target” took place on 18 December 2019 at the 9th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakır. P24 monitored the hearing. The case was launched following a complaint by senior gendarmerie commander Maj. Gen. Musa Çitil, whose name was cited in a February 2016 news report by the shuttered DİHA news agency. Ömer Çelik, who was DİHA’s news editor at the time, former DİHA reporters Çağdaş Kaplan, Hamza Gündüz and Selman Çiçek, journalist Abdulvahap Taş, the shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper’s responsible editor İnan Kızılkaya and publisher Kemal Sancılı, and Selim Günenç, a social media user who also shared the report, were charged with “making those involved in combating terrorism a target.” Çiçek faced the additional charge of “systematically spreading terrorism propaganda” over his social media posts. Issuing its verdict at the end of the hearing, the court acquitted all seven journalists of all charges against them, ruling that the legal elements of the alleged crime were not present in the case. The case file against Selim Günenç, who is still at large, was separated. 2 October 2019: Seven journalists facing up to 3 years in prison over social media posts A Turkish prosecutor has requested between one and three year prison sentences for seven journalists over their social media posts, pro-Kurdish Fırat news agency reported on Wednesday. The journalists are accused of targeting Musa Çitil, who served as the gendarmerie deputy commander in the country’s southeastern Kurdish majority province of Diyarbakır in 2015, during the height of the conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and Kurdish militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK is an armed group that has fought for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey for over three decades. In August 2015, Kurdish militants declared autonomy in Diyarbakır’s central district of Sur and other city centres across the country’s southeast and erected barricades to keep security forces out. After months of bitter street fighting, military operations officially ended the following March. Journalists Ömer Çelik, A.Vahap Taş, Çağdaş Kaplan, Selman Çiçek, Hamza Gündüz, İnan Kızılkaya and Kemal Sancılı shared on their social media accounts a report by the now defunct pro-Kurdish Dicle news agency (DİHA) which the authorities say targeted Çitil. They are accused of ‘’targeting an official fighting against terror.’’ The next hearing in the case of the journalists is set to take place on Dec. 18. 3 October 2018: Journalists testify in case over social media posts Journalists deny accusations in their defense statements. Trial adjourned until January First hearing in the trial of seven journalists who are charged with “making those involved in combatting terrorism a target” for sharing on social media a 2016 news story was held in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on 3 October. The court case was launched after a complaint from senior commander Maj. Gen. Musa Çitil, who was cited in the news report. The report, published in February 2016 by the shuttered DİHA news agency, was focused on Çitil’s position as commander of the military operations in Sur district of Diyarbakır at the time despite accusations that he had been involved in the killings of 13 villagers in Mardin’s Derik district in 1993 and 1994. The defendants include Ömer Çelik, who was the news editor at DİHA at the time, DİHA reporters Çağdaş Kaplan, Hamza Gündüz and Selman Çiçek, journalist Abdulvahap Taş, the shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper’s responsible editor İnan Kızılkaya and owner Kemal Sancılı. Kızılkaya and Sancılı are on trial because the DİHA report was also shared on Özgür Gündem’s social media accounts. Prosecutor additionally seeks up to five years in jail for Çiçek on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” for his social media posts. Three of the defendants, Abdulvahap Taş, Selman Çiçek and Ömer Çelik, attended the first hearing held at the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court. Kızılkaya and Kaplan were to give their defense statements at a criminal court in Istanbul, where they reside. Sancılı, who is in prison in Edirne as part of another trial, was expected to address the court via court videoconferencing system SEGBİS but he could not as SEGBİS facilities were made available to politician Selahattin Demirtaş who is held in the same prison. Journalist Taş told the court that he had only retweeted the report, that he acted within bounds of the right to information and that he had no intention to expose any official as a target. Çiçek and Çelik similarly denied the accusation, saying they had no criminal intent and that there were multiple news reports about the military operations in Sur. Çelik said the news report in question was a journalistic activity carried out in the name of public’s right to information and emphasized that the complainant in the case was a known public figure whose actions were the subject of the news report. Lawyer Resul Temur said the news report’s emphasis was on the fact that Maj. Gen. Çitil was assigned to lead the operations in an area with a large civilian population despite past accusations against him regarding the killing of 13 villagers in Derik, which culminated in a court case. Announcing its interim ruling at the end of the hearing, the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court adjourned the trial until 16 January 2019. Source 14 June 2018: 7 journalists indicted for posting news story on social media Former Dicle news agency (DİHA) news manager Ömer Çelik, reporters Çağdaş Kaplan, Hamza Gündüz, Selman Çiçek, freelance journalist A. Vahap Taş, former Özgür Gündem responsible managing editor İnan Kızılkaya and the newspaper’s publisher Kemal Sancılı are facing charges in a newly issued indictment for sharing a 2016 news story on social media. The indictment, issued by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and accepted by the 9th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakır, seeks up to 3 years of imprisonment for each of the seven journalists on the charge of “targeting state officials assigned in the fight against terrorism.” The indictment also seeks an additional prison term between 1 to 5 years for Selman Çiçek on the charge of “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization” via social media. 10 June 2018: A Diyarbakır court today accepted an indictment accusing seven journalists of "making propaganda for a [terrorist] organisation" or "making targets of those who have assigned to combat terrorism," over news reports they shared on social media, the Mezopotamya news agency reported. The defendants face up to three years in prison if found guilty. The trial is based on a complaint filed by General Musa Çitil, a regional gendarmerie commander during clashes in the Sur district of Diyarbakır in 2016, who was previously acquitted of charges of killing killing 13 civilians in the 1990s. Ömer Çelik, former news editor for DİHA, Çağdaş Kaplan, Hamza Gündüz, Selman Çiçek and A. Vahap Taş, former reporters for DİHA, İnan Kızılkaya, former responsible news editor for Özgür Gündem, and Kemal Sancılı, former publisher of Özgür Gündem, were chargedwith "making targets of those assigned to combat terrorism" after sharing the reports on social media, and Çiçek faces an additional charge of "making propaganda" over his social media activity.
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The new Turkey Selman Çiçek. Correspondent for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DIHA)

Journalists testify in case over social media posts

The new Turkey
Selman Çiçek.
Correspondent for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DIHA)