Journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu Arrested

Journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu, the Editor-in-Chief of Yakın Doğu Haber news website, has been arrested as part of an investigation filed into his social media messages on charge of “inciting the public to enmity and hatred.”

İstanbul

* Photo: Alptekin Dursunoğlu / Twitter

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Following the developments in Syria, journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu, the Editor-in-Chief of Yakın Doğu Haber news website, has been arrested over his social media messages about the ongoing war in Syria's Idlib. The journalist is charged with "inciting the public to enmity and hatred."

Founder of Yakın Doğu Haber, which reports critically of the government's Syria policy, Dursunoğlu was detained on February 29.

Şu an gözaltına alınıyorum
— Alptekin Dursunoğlu (@Alptekin_D) February 29, 2020

"I am being detained right now"

Attorney Kemal Aytaç has announced the arrest of Dursunoğlu to the public. Speaking to daily Evrensel, Aytaç has indicated that his client has been arrested on the alleged ground that "he incited the public to enmity and hatred" with his social media posts.

Aytaç has also stated that Dursunoğlu did not commit any crimes, he is a dissident who "stands out" and the investigation was launched against the journalist following a tip-off.

After an airstrike claimed the lives of 34 soldiers in Syria's Idlib on February 27, prosecutors announced that an investigation was launched into "provocative" messages shared on social media.

'He is guilty of defending right of information'

Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) Press Labor (Basın-İş) Union has denounced the arrest of Dursunoğlu on Twitter:

"Yakın Doğu Haber Editor-in-Chief Alptekin Dursunoğlu has been arrested. Taken into custody from his house last night, Dursunoğlu's 'crime' is to pursue a publication policy that does not conform to that of the government and to defend people's right to receive information."

About Alptekin Dursunoğlu

Journalist-writer. Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Yakın Doğu Haber (Near East News) website. He has books entitled: Dördüncü Dünya Savaşı ve Orta Doğu (World War 4 and Middle East), Stratejik İttifak Türkiye İsrail İlişkilerinin Öyküsü (Strategic Alliance, the History of Turkey-Israel Relations), Suriye'de Elde Var Sıfır (We Got Nothing in Syria), Suriye'de Vekalet Savaşı (Proxy War in Syria), Yeni Osmanlı'nın Ortadoğu'su (The Middle East of Neo-Ottoman). (HA/SD)