'We will continue to write what they don't want to be revealed'

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Ahead of the second hearing of the case about disclosing the identity of a National Intelligence Organization (MIT) member who was killed in Libya, journalists and press organizations held a press meeting at İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.

Along with Barış Terkoğlu, one of the defendant journalists who was released from prison after the first hearing, lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), independent MP Ahmet Şık, Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC) Chair Gökhan Durmuş, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Turkey Representative Erol Önderoğlu, DİSK Basın-İş Union Chair Faruk Eren, Evren newspaper's editor-in-chief, attorneys of the journalists and citizens attended the meeting.

People hold placards that read, "Journalism is not a crime", "Freedom for journalists", "Journalists are imprisoned, democracy is lame, we are with you."

"A state secret"

Having spent four months behind bars before his release, Barış Terkoğlu read out a statement in the name of the journalists on trial.

"We lost count of the times we gathered here, in front of this courthouse. We don't remember how many times we cried out loud for justice. We lost count of how many times we carried banners of journalists who have been taken hostage with the help of law," he said.

"We're not complaining. We are as determined as the ordinariness of the mindset that arrests journalists upon flimsy grounds. That's what we're trying to tell. This time, we're here to be the voice of three journalists, colleagues in jail.

"Barış Pehlivan, Murat Ağırel and Hülya Kılınç have been under arrest in Silivri Prison for six months. Surely, it has been a news story that was presented as a pretext to tie their hands.

It's such a news story that, even after the President announced it to millions, its content was still treated as "state secret"!

It's such a story that even after the news was shared by thousands including the village registrar then former brothers in arms, it got disclosed "for the very first time"!

It's such a news story that, even after the head of the Turkish Intelligence Agency sent a wreath to the funeral, it was "unnoticeable"!

It's such a news story that, even though it talked about a funeral attended by hundreds, it was rated as "classified"!

It's such a news story that, even though the protocol attending the funeral posed for pictures, the filming was said to be a "secret" one!

"We know that those who draft the scripts to put journalists in jail, produce crimes out of public interviews that they embellish with unreal references, do not also believe in their own indictments.

"We know that those who punch our friends in jail, keep them in prison during a pandemic, oblige them to torture by isolation, wish that corruption, injustices, abuses in this country would never be reported again.

"We will soon step into the courtroom and watch the trial of handcuffed journalists, sitting in defendants' chairs.

"Whatever is the outcome, we can see the ending of this movie that different people have been producing over the years.

"I assure you that the ending of this mindset will be the same as their predecessors' that tried to silence journalists with plots, conspiracies they've created. We, however, regardless of our names, will keep writing whatever they wish to remain hidden.

"Yesterday, today, tomorrow..."

Union chair: We will continue the struggle

Speaking after Terkoğlu, DİSK Basın-İş Chair Faruk Eren said, "Journalists are continued to be tried at courthouses. Thirty journalists will appear before the court in a month. Three of them are at the court today. We want them to be released immediately. Freedom of the press and expression is disregarded. We won't tolerate that. We will continue the struggle until democracy and freedom of the press are established in the country. Journalism is not a crime."

TGC Secretary-General: Journalism is not espionage

TGC Secretary-General Sibel Güneş said, "Journalism is not espionage, terror activity. The government targets our colleagues to prevent the publication of the news, it causes them to be attacked. Assaults go unpunished. 750 journalists have entered and come out of the prison so far, 75 journalists are in prison right now. We think that the three colleagues of ours who are being tried today have been unfairly held in prison for six months and they are unfairly on trial. We demand that our colleagues be set free."

(HA/VK)