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Turkish
newspaper editor in court for 'espionage' after revealing weapon
convoy to Syrian militants
RT,
26
November, 2015
A
Turkish prosecutor asked a court to imprison the editor-in-chief of
Cumhuriyet newspaper pending trial for espionage and treason. In May,
the outlet published photos of weapons it said were then transferred
to Syria by Turkey’s intelligence agency.
Besides
the editor, Can Dündar, the prosecution said it is seeking the same
pre-trial restrictions for Cumhuriyet’s representative in Ankara,
Erdem Gül.
Dündar
arrived at an Istanbul court on Thursday, saying that he and his
colleague “came
here to defend journalism.”
“We
came here to defend the right of the public to obtain the news and
their right to know if their government is feeding them lies. We came
here to show and to prove that governments cannot engage in illegal
activity and defend this,” Dündar
was cited by Today’s Zaman.
The
articles, published on Cumhuriyet's front page in May, claimed that
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) is smuggling
weapons in trucks into Syria and was caught doing so twice in
2014. The trucks were allegedly stopped and searched by police,
with photos and videos of their contents obtained by Cumhuriyet.
According
to the paper, the trucks were carrying six steel containers, with
1,000 artillery shells, 50,000 machine gun rounds, 30,000 heavy
machine gun rounds and 1,000 mortar shells. The arms were reportedly
delivered to extremist groups fighting against the Syrian government
of President Bashar Assad, whom Ankara wants ousted from power.
The
Turkish authorities denied the allegations, saying that the trucks
were carrying aid to Syrian ethnic Turkmen tribespeople and labeled
their interception an act of “treason” and “espionage.”
A
2014 report by
Human Rights Watch warned that under Erdogan’s rule Turkey has seen
the erosion of human rights via a crackdown on media freedom, dissent
and a weakening of the rule of law.
Many
journalists in the country are facing harsh prison terms for exposing
corruption in the government and surveillance by the Turkish state.
Egdogan’s
regime has also attempted to silence social media by blocking YouTube
and Twitter on a number of occasions.READ
MORE: Turkish police raid opposition TV station ahead of election
(VIDEO)
Prior
to November’s general election, Turkish police stormed the offices
of opposition media group Koza Ipek.
From Turkish media
The
editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet daily, Can Dündar, and the paper's
Ankara representative Erdem Gül have been arrested on charges of
being members of a terror organization, espionage and revealing
confidential documents -- charges that could see them spend life in
prison.
Today's
Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş is facing the prospect of up to
eight years and two months in prison on charges of “insulting”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a series of tweets and statements
that the journalist says was him simply expressing a critical opinion
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