Turkey puts on trial 17 staff from anti-Erdogan daily
New alarm over press freedom under Erdogan as defendants face jail terms of up to 43 years
Directors and journalists from one of Turkey’s most respected opposition newspapers went on trial yesterday after spending over eight months behind bars in a case that has raised new alarm over press freedoms under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The suspects were detained from October under the state of emergency implemented after the July 15, 2016 failed coup blamed on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
A total of 17 staff of the newspaper — including writers, cartoonists and executives — are going on trial at the imposing palace of justice in Istanbul.
The trial got underway with defendants reading out their identities inside a courtroom crammed with supporters, an AFP journalist said.
Earlier, supporters released dozens of multicoloured balloons outside the courthouse, chanting: “Don’t be silenced! A free media is a right!”
If convicted, the defendants face varying terms of up to 43 years in jail.
The opposition fears the state of emergency has been used to go after anyone who dares defy the government and the trial is seen as a test for press freedoms under Erdogan. Turkey ranks 155th on the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) world press freedom index, below Belarus and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the P24 press freedom group, there are 166 journalists behind bars in Turkey, most of whom were arrested under the state of emergency.
Erdogan, however, insisted in an interview earlier this month there were just “two real journalists” behind bars in Turkey.
In an extraordinary coincidence, the day of the trial opening, July 24, is Turkey’s annual national day of the press, marking the end of censorship in the Ottoman Empire.