Reports on drug baron with ties to senior AKP deputy censored

AKP's Kuzu (m) had to admit that he had asked the judge to release Zindashti (r) after these photos.

Summary of interferences with press freedom between August 23 and September 5, according to bianet's Media Monitoring Database:

The Zindasthi case

Naji Sharifi Zindashti, an international drug trafficker from Iran, was arrested in Turkey in April 2018. When he was released on October 11, 2018, the indictment against him had not yet been completed. Although the prosecutor's office objected to his release, the drug baron could not be found.

Burhan Kuzu, a late prominent figure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who served as an MP between 2002 and 2018, was accused of pressuring the judge to release Zindashti.

He had initially rejected the claims but had to admit that he had called the judge after his photos with Zindashti emerged. Kuzu died of Covid-19 on November 20, 2020.

An İstanbul judgeship ruled on September 1 that access to two news reports and a column article about the Zindashti case should be blocked and the articles should be deleted.

The article on the Diken news portal was about the hearing of the Zindashti case that took place in late May. According to the report, one of the three defendant police officers who are accused of leaking information to the drug baron claimed that the name of a police chief was removed from the case file at the request of a police department chief.

The column article on daily BirGün mentions the same allegations, as well as the claims that Zindashti had blackmailed Kuzu to help him get released from prison. Daily Cumhuriyet also reported on the hearing.

The judgeship ruled that the articles violated the department chief's personal rights and the articles should be deleted.

New investigations

Reporting on murder allegations against AKP deputy

An investigation has been launched against journalist Baransel Ağca for the third time over his news about the suspicious death of student Yeldana Kaharman from Kazakhstan in 2019.

Ağca announced on Twitter that the investigation was launched upon a criminal complaint by AKP deputy Tolga Ağar.

Exiled mafia boss Sedat Peker, whose revelations shook the country a few months ago, claimed that Ağar had sexually assaulted Kaharman.

Ağca is also being investigated for "insulting the president" over his social media posts from 2016.

CLICK - Journalist investigated after reporting on rape, murder allegations against AKP deputy 

Reporting on attacks against refugees

An investigation has been opened against journalist Emre Orman for "provoking the people into hatred and animosity" because of his reporting on the attacks on Syrian refugees' homes and businesses in the capital Ankara on August 10 and 11. 

Disclosing the names of police officers

Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reporter Ahmet Kanbal has been summoned to depose for a report about a 16-year-old child being detained 30 times in three years.

The Nusaybin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has charged the reporter with "marking a counterterrorism official as a target" because of disclosing the names of police officers in the report. 

New investigations were also opened against journalists Mustafa Hoş and Öznur Değer because of their TV remarks and social media posts.

Police prevented journalist from covering demonstration

With the September 1 World Peace Day demonstration in İstanbul not allowed, the İstanbul Labor, Peace and Democracy Forces attempted to hold a press briefing, during which the police tried to seize the phone of Evrensel reporter Eylem Nazlıer, who was filming the police response to the group.

CLICK - CFWIJ condemns police violence against journalist at peace rally

Attack on journalist Celal Eren Çelik

haberalternatif.com news portal's editor-in-chief Celal Eren Çelik announced that he was punched in a cafe on September 2. Çelik said that the assaulters pulled a gun on the cafe personnel who ran after them and they left the scene of the incident by getting in a vehicle.

Journalists have increasingly faced physical attacks with at least 12 journalists being attacked in the first half of the year. Police brutality against journalists has also become more common after a Security Directorate circular banning filming police officers during demonstrations.

CLICK - Journalists protest police violence: 'We can't breathe'

CLICK - Twelve attacks on journalists in six months

CLICK - Violence towards journalists continues by both police and civilians

Reporter not allowed in AKP spokesperson's press conference

A FOX TV reporter was not allowed in a press conference by AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik on September 2.

Even though he is an accredited journalist, he wasn't allowed in the conference room as per instructions from Çelik himself, he was told by AKP officials, said reporter Barış Kaya. 

"Terrorist propaganda" in social media posts

Upon a tip-off to the Ankara Provincial Security Directorate, journalist Derya Okatan faced an investigation over the news posted on the Twitter and Facebook accounts of the Etkin News Agency (ETHA) in 2018, when she was the managing editor of the agency.

The investigation conducted since 2019 has been finalized. The indictment charging the journalist with "successively propagandizing for a terrorist organization" has been accepted by a court in Ankara. The first hearing of the case will be held on October 13. 

(VK)