The new Turkey
Ertuğrul Mavioğlu.
Journalist Özgür Gündem

02-Aug-2019 13:17

18 July 2019:

2 May 2019:

Bakur trial” adjourned until July

A trial where journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu and filmmaker Çayan Demirel are charged with “propaganda” for a documentary they co-directed titled Bakur (North) resumed on 2 May at the 2nd High Criminal Court of Batman.

Both Mavioğlu and Demirel, as well as their lawyers, were in attendance at the sixth hearing in the trial, monitored by P24. MPs Ayşe Acar Başaran and Ahmet Şık, representatives from the Association of Documentary Filmmakers of Turkey, journalists from the Altyazı film magazine, academics, filmmakers and stage actors were among those who came to Batman to observe the hearing and lend support to Mavioğlu and Demirel.

At the beginning of the hearing, the judges announced that it had recently come to their attention that a separate criminal investigation into Mavioğlu on the charge of “propaganda” was under way in Ankara.

In their interim decision, the court ruled to inquire of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office about the investigation into Mavioğlu and ask for a copy of the investigation file. The court also decided to grant additional time to the defendants for their statements in response to the prosecutor’s final opinion of the case and adjourned the trial until 18 July.

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.

21 February 2019:

“Bakur trial” adjourned until April

The trial into journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu and filmmaker Çayan Demirel, the co-directors of the documentary Bakur (North), on the charge of “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist group” resumed on 21 February at the 2nd High Criminal Court of Batman. P24 monitored the third hearing, where both Demirel and Mavioğlu were represented by their lawyers. Demirel’s wife, film producer Ayşe Çetinbaş, was among those monitoring the trial.

Submitting their final opinion of the case during the hearing, the prosecution requested that both Demirel and Mavioğlu be convicted of the “propaganda” charge. The prosecution also requested that the court increase the sentences on the grounds that the offense was carried out through the press. Granting additional time for the final defense statements, the court adjourned the trial until 3 April 2019.

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

15 February 2018:

Journalist acquitted
An Istanbul court on February 15 acquitted veteran freelance journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu on charges of "insulting the president" during the first trial hearing, the independent news site Bianet reported.

Mavioğlu was on trial regarding a 2015 tweet in which he referred to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a "lowly murderer."

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.

29 November 2016:
Journalist testifies in trial for show of solidarity with shuttered newspaper
Journalist and author Ertuğrul Mavioğlu today testified before Istanbul's 13thCourt for Serious Crimes, denying charges that he had propagandized for a terrorist organization or praised crime and criminals by symbolically acting as co-editor of shuttered, pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem for a day, Bianet reported. Mavioğlu was among dozens of journalists, academics, and activists to add his name to the paper's masthead to protest the persistent judicial harassment of the newspaper's staff before a court ordered the paper closed in August.

The journalist argued that the offending news stories on the Turkish state's conflict with Kurdish separatists in the edition he guest-edited could not be considered criminal because similar stories on the issue were featured in the mainstream media in 2013, when peace talks were still in progress, and were not prosecuted. Jailed Özgür Gündem Responsible News Editor İnan Kızılkaya, a co-defendant in this and every similar case because his position makes him responsible for all the newspaper's content under Turkish law, was not present at the trial, which adjourned until October 25, Bianet reported.