The new Turkey
Ayşe Düzkan.
Özgür Gündem reporter

Journalist Ayşe Düzkan joined in a campaign for solidarity with the now-defunct pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem on 8 May 2016, symbolically editing the newspaper for a day. A public prosecutor immediately launched an investigation against Düzkan, accusing her of “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization” over her participation in the campaign.

Özgür Gündem was closed down later in 2016 under a statutory decree issued as part of Turkey’s emergency rule.

Düzkan was summoned by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on 23 May 2016 to give her statement as part of the investigation. In her statement, Düzkan said she symbolically assumed the role of editor-in-chief for a day, to lend support to Özgür Gündem. She told the prosecutor that she participated in the editorial board meeting for the 8 May 2016 edition of the newspaper but that the content featured on that day’s paper for which she is accused was chosen and edited by the newspaper’s own editorial staff.

An indictment against Düzkan was issued on 24 May 2016, only one day after she gave her statement to the prosecutor. News stories from Özgür Gündem’s 8 May 2016 edition were held as evidence in the indictment, where Düzkan was charged with “openly inciting crime,” “praising crime or a criminal,” and “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The indictment was accepted by the 13th High Criminal Court of Istanbul.

The full indictment against Ayşe Düzkan (in Turkish) can be accessed here.

The first courtroom hearing of the case, where Düzkan stood trial alongside journalists Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Ragıp Duran, Hüseyin Aykol and columnist Hüseyin Bektaş, took place on 20 September 2016 at the 13th High Criminal Court of Istanbul.

Düzkan was in attendance at the hearing. In her defense statement in response to the accusations in the indictment, Düzkan reiterated the statement she gave to the prosecutor during the investigation. Düzkan said: “I symbolically became the editor-in-chief of Özgür Gündem for a single day in order to lend my support to the newspaper in the face of the pressure they faced at the time. I believe this is not a crime and I request to be acquitted.” Since the court heard Düzkan’s defense statement, the panel granted Düzkan exemption from personal attendance in the courtroom.

During the fourth hearing of the case on 9 May 2017, the prosecution submitted their final opinion of the case, seeking a 7.5-year prison term for Düzkan on the charge of “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist group.” Düzkan’s lawyer Yeşinil Yeşilyurt requested a continuance for the preparation of the final defense statement in response to the prosecution’s final opinion. The court accepted, and adjourned the trial.

The seventh and final hearing of the trial took place on 16 January 2018. Announcing its verdict at the end of the hearing, the court convicted Düzkan and her four co-defendants of “Disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The court initially sentenced Düzkan, Duran, Çelebi and Bektaş to one year in prison each. The court then increased the penalties by half on the grounds that “the offense was committed via the press.” As a result, Duran, Düzkan, Çelebi and Bektaş were each sentenced to one year and six months in prison. Aykol was initially sentenced to two years in prison. The court increased Aykol’s sentence to three years on the grounds that he “committed the offense through the press.” Aykol’s sentence was also increased by another nine months because “the offense was committed successively.”

The court said none of the defendants were granted reduction in the sentences because they have “not shown sufficient remorse” during the hearings.

Ruling on the motion for appeal filed by defense lawyers, the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice upheld the trial court’s verdict. In its judgment dated 29 November 2018, the appellate court found the trial court’s judgment to be lawful. This opened the way for the imprisonment of Düzkan, for prison sentences less than five years cannot be appealed further once they are upheld by an appellate court.

Düzkan was sent to prison on 29 January 2019 to serve the 18-month sentence she was handed down in January 2018. Düzkan was placed in the Bakırköy Women’s Prison in Istanbul, where she will remain behind bars for 1 year.

Düzkan’s petitions seeking her transfer to an open prison as per standard legal procedures have been ignored by the prison management, according to a May 2019 news report. Düzkan’s lawyer Özcan Kılıç has applied to the Bakırköy Judge of Execution for her transfer to an open prison.

On 23 May 2019, Düzkan was released from the Bakırköy Women’s Prison in response to her numerous requests to be transferred to an open prison. Düzkan was subsequently transferred to the women’s open prison in the Eskişehir province. She was released from Eskişehir Women’s Prison on probation on 11 June 2019.

Source: https://expressioninterrupted.com/ayse-duzkan/

In the 32nd year of "March Against Beating", women came together in Yoğurtçu Park in Kadıköy, İstanbul on May 18 and expressed solidarity with imprisoned journalist and writer Ayşe Düzkan.

Sending their messages of solidarity, women said, "If the future will be different than today, the future will also be ours, the future will be woman."

Her request for transfer to open prison rejected

Feminist journalist and writer Ayşe Düzkan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for having solidarized with Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was closed by a Statutory Decree during the State of Emergency. Düzkan has been behind bars since January 29, 2019.

Düzkan submitted a petition and requested her transfer to an open prison in accordance with the procedure. Her petition was first left unanswered, then, it has been rejected.

'We remember our past to build our future'

As reported by sendika.org news website, reading out the statement for the press on behalf of the women, Beyhan Demir said,

"Today, we are here for Ayşe Düzkan, who was an editor-in-chief on watch of Özgür Gündem for a day to solidarize with the newspaper; but, we don't forget the journalists who are tried, arrested and deprived of their freedoms, either. Because we know that defending freedom of expression and our right to obtain information also means defending ourselves."

Stating that women made a beginning at Yoğurtçu Park 32 years ago, Demir continued as follows:

"They said, 'Women exist.' Ayşe, one of the women speaking from the feminist rostrum set up that day, addressed the friends and enemies in following words: 'This world has been organized to confine us to our homes; we, who are the half of this world, will make this world our homes by breaking down the wall of our houses. Because if the future will be different than today, the future will also be ours, the future will be woman, hello!'

"Dear Ayşe, you are away from us today; we are saying 'Hello', we are saying 'Hello, heval (friend in Kurdish)' to you so that you can hear us, so that we can join our voices with you.

"As you said on March 8, 1997, 'We remember our past to build our future' and we repeat our intention to change our lives from today to tomorrow."

While the letter of Stella Ovadia, one of the organizers of the March Against Beating, was read out by Sakine Günel, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Ankara MP Filiz Kerestecioğlu, one of the women who started the march 32 years ago, also made a short speech. Kerestecioğlu said,

"We carry feminism in our hearts. And Ayşe was one of its pioneers. Ayşe will come out and continue writing in lowercase letters."

At the end of their meeting, women sent a message of solidarity to Düzkan.

'I thank her for representing us there'

One of the women attending the event also shared what she lived through during her marriage and made a call for solidarity to women:

'I was beaten and cheated on for two years. I was attempted to be killed. I don't know Ms. Ayşe and I wasn't here 32 year ago. I am 28 years old now. I came across you here. I thank her for being on her feet for 110 days, for representing us there. It is an unlawfulness, it is not fair. Though I was tried to be killed, I still stood up on my feet. I am making a call to all women from here: Please stand up and ask us for help. We are strong together."