The new Turkey
Faruk Eren
Journalist Özgür Gündem

19-Apr-2019 9:31

3 April 2019:

6 journalists given suspended sentences for ‘terrorist propaganda’

Six Turkish journalists were given 15-month suspended sentences on Wednesday on charges of disseminating terrorist propaganda while serving as the symbolic editor-in-chief for a day of the now-closed Kurdish Özgür Gündem daily in 2016, the Medyascope news platform reported.

Apart from journalists Faruk Eren, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Celal Başlangıç, İhsan Çaralan, Fehim Işık and Öncü Akgül, Celalettin Can was also given 15 months in prison but his sentence was not suspended.

A solidarity campaign for Özgür Gündem, the one-day symbolic editor-in-chief routine, was conducted between May and August 2016, in which 56 journalists, lawyers and human rights activists participated.

Forty-nine of them were subject to prosecution, and the newspaper was closed by government decree in October 2016 after a failed coup that gave the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vast authorities under a subsequent state of emergency.

28 March 2019:

“Özgür Gündem solidarity case” adjourned until next week

A trial where 13 people, most of whom are journalists, stand accused of “terrorism propaganda” for joining in a solidarity campaign for the shuttered Özgür Gündem daily resumed on 28 March at the 14th High Criminal Court of Istanbul.

P24 monitored the hearing, where the prosecution reiterated their previous opinion of the case. The prosecutor is seeking prison terms for 12 of the 13 defendants -- Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Celal Başlangıç, İhsan Çaralan, Fehim Işık, Öncü Akgül, Faruk Eren, Celalettin Can, Ömer Ağın, Veysel Kemer, Dilşah Karakaya, Yüksel Oğuz and Özgür Gündem’s former co-editor-in-chief Hüseyin Aykol -- on the charge of “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The prosecutor did not request a prison sentence for the 13th defendant, Mehmet Şirin Taşdemir, on grounds that he has already been convicted in another case.

Accepting the defense lawyers’ request for additional time for the final defense statements, the court adjourned the trial until 3 April.

9 October 2018:

Summing-up in trial of RSF’s Turkey representative delayed until January

.......................Eleven other journalists, including Faruk Eren, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, İhsan Çaralan and Fehim Işık, are due to appear in court tomorrow in Istanbul for taking part in the same solidarity campaign.

The already worrying situation of Turkey’s media has become critical since an abortive coup in July 2016. Many media outlets have been closed summarily, without any effective form of recourse, mass trials are being held and Turkey now holds the world record for the number of professional journalists in prison. It is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index. Read the full article

9 September 2018:

New board of foundation caused resignations in Cumhuriyet newspaper

Following the board change of the Cumhuriyet foundation, the owner of Turkey's opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, columnists have started to resign one by one. Journalists Aydın Engin, Hakan Kara and Çiğdem Toker handed in their resignations, news portal T24 reported . 

Also, the new board sacked Murat Sabuncu, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, its managing editor Faruk Eren, and editor Bülent Özdoğan. Read the full article

13 August 2018:
In a separate report on August 13, Bianet quoted Gökhan Durmuş, chair of the Journalists Union of Turkey, as saying that the investigations aim to "prevent news with threats." Faruk Eren, president of the media and printing branch of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey, said not reporting about the crisis would be "counter manipulation" and added, "hiding information from the people is a crime."

16 July 2018:

Özgür Gündem solidarity trial adjourned until October
 
The eighth hearing of the trial of journalists who joined in a solidarity campaign for the shuttered Özgür Gündem daily was held on 16 July at the 14th High Criminal Court of Istanbul.
 
The prosecutor had submitted his final opinion of the case during the previous hearing, seeking prison terms for 12 of the 13 defendants -- Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Celal Başlangıç, İhsan Çaralan, Fehim Işık, Öncü Akgül, Faruk Eren, Celalettin Can, Ömer Ağın, Veysel Kemer, Dilşah Karakaya, Yüksel Oğuz and Özgür Gündem’s former co-editor-in-chief Hüseyin Aykol -- on the charge of “conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The prosecutor did not request a prison sentence for the 13th defendant, Mehmet Şirin Taşdemir, on grounds that he has already been convicted in another case.
 
P24 monitored the hearing on 16 July, where none of the defendants were in attendance. Defense lawyers addressing the court for the final defense statements requested that the investigation be expanded. The lawyers also raised objection of unconstitutionality.
 
Rejecting the lawyers’ requests and objections, the court adjourned the trial until 10 October for the rest of the final defense statements to be ready.

25 October 2016:

Journalists, press freedom advocates on trial for terrorism
Evrensel columnist İhsan Çaralan, freelance journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, and head of the press branch of the Revolutionary Worker Unions' Confederation (DİSK) Faruk Eren each appeared at Istanbul's 14th Court for Serious Crimes today to face incitement and terrorism charges, the news website Bianet reported.

The charges stem from the coverage of the shuttered newspaper Özgür Gündemon the days in which each had symbolically acted as co-editor of the publication for a day to protest the persistent judicial harassment of the newspaper's staff. Dozens of journalists and activists participated in the campaign to show solidarity with the newspaper before a court ordered it closed in August and police raided and sealed the newspaper's office.

22 September 2016:

Özgür Gündem guest editor in court

Faruk Eren, head of the leftist union DİSK (The Revolutionary Worker Unions' Confederation) for press workers, was in court yesterday over his participation in the solidarity campaign with the pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem, Bianet reported. Eren is on trial due to three stories and columns featured in the newspaper on the day he was the symbolic chief editor. İnan Kızılkaya, the news editor who under Turkish law is legally responsible for the recently shuttered newspaper and is a defendant at every trial connected to the solidarity campaign, was not present at court. He is still under arrest.

The journalists are charged with making propaganda of a [terrorist] organization, praising a crime and criminal, and provoking the people into committing crimes. The next hearing was scheduled for October 25. Four more participants in the campaign--Nadire Mater, of Bianet, Hasan Cemal, of T24, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, formerly with the daily Radikal, and freelancer Mehmet Güç--were at Çağlayan courthouse in Istanbul today, to testify in their case, Bianet reported. The journalists are free pending trial.