IPI: Drop charges against Melis Alphan

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Ahead of her second hearing tomorrow (May 21), the International Press Institute (IPI) has called on Turkey to drop charges against journalist Melis Alphan, who faces up to 7.5 years in prison due to a photo that she took during the Diyarbakır Newroz in southeast Turkey in 2015.

"This is an outrageous example of targeting journalists who reported on, supported and shared previous official activities of the government during peace talks with Kurdish representatives to solve a long-term national conflict", IPI Turkey Programme Coordinator Renan Akyavaş has said.

"Alphan is being prosecuted just for sharing a photo taken from an officially sanctioned event during an official process which the government now aims to forget, act as if it never happened and to deem everything related to it illegal," Akyavaş has underlined further, briefly adding:

"The Turkish government's current attitude is one of targeting those independent journalists who reported positively on the peace process but continued their criticism against the government since then and are therefore being targeted now on baseless accusations.

"This is absolutely unacceptable, and Turkey must immediately end the prosecution of Alphan and compensate her for the damage done to her during this baseless prosecution."

What happened?

A lawsuit has been filed against journalist Melis Alphan on the grounds that she posted a photo from the Newroz celebrations in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır in 2015.

The journalist is now charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" because "the flag of the organization was seen in the picture." Alphan faces up to 7 years, 6 months in prison on the offense charged.

As the indictment of the prosecutor's office has been accepted by the court, Alphan is standing trial at the İstanbul 32nd Heavy Penal Court.

Making a statement about the issue, Alphan noted that the lawsuits filed against journalists are an attempt to silence them:

"The aim is to silence. But when I am told to stay silent, I cannot help speaking out of spite, this is who I am. Do you think I would care even if you imprisoned me? May whoever fears you be just like you."

At the first hearing on April 6, 2021, Alphan rejected all accusations and stated that the photo in question with the caption "Happy Newroz" in Kurdish was from an official Newroz celebration in Diyarbakır, which was aired on all television channels, including the state broadcaster TRT.

While Alphan requested her acquittal, the prosecutor pronounced the opinion as to the accusations and demanded that Alphan be penalized. The court adjourned the hearing until May 21 so that Alphan and her attorneys could prepare their defense statement as to the accusations.

In Kurdish culture, Newroz is a celebration of the arrival of the spring and the new year. (HA/SD)