Verdict of Release for Journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu

* Photo: Alptekin Dursunoğlu / Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Arrested on charge of "inciting the public to enmity and hatred" over his social media messages on March 1, 2020, Yakın Doğu Haber news website Editor-in-Chief Alptekin Dursunoğlu stood trial at the İstanbul 49th Penal Court of First Instance today (March 16). 

Announcing its verdict on Dursunoğlu, the court board first sentenced the journalist to 50 days in prison on charge of "praising an offense and offender" under the Article 215 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). 

The board has then turned this prison term into a judicial fine of 1,000 Turkish Lira (TRY) and ruled for the release of the journalist.

The Article 215 of the TCK says: "Any person who publicly praises an offence or a person on account of an offence he has committed shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of up to two years if any explicit and imminent danger to the public order occurs therefore."

What happened?

Yakın Doğu Haber (Near East News) news website Editor-in-Chief journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu was arrested on March 1, 2020 as part of an investigation launched into his social media messages. The indictment against the journalist was issued two days later on March 3.

Referring to his translations from international media outlets that he shared on his social media account, the indictment argued that the journalist "portrayed the activities of top state officials in Turkey and those of Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in Syria as terrorist activities."

Based on the social media posts of the journalist, the indictment concluded that Alptekin Dursunoğlu "incited a segment of the society to enmity and hatred towards the top state officials and military units of Turkey", indicating that "sufficient evidence has been obtained as to his committal of the offense 'inciting the public to enmity and hatred'."

About Alptekin Dursunoğlu

Journalist-writer. Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Yakın Doğu Haber 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)