‘If his press card not given by Presidency, he is not a journalist’

* News and photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Covering the incident where Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut were thrown from the helicopter in Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern province of Van after being detained by soldiers, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehriban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala have been arrested since October 2020.

The attorneys of the arrested journalist made an individual application to the Constitutional Court and demanded their release.

The journalists were arrested on October 9, 2020 and their attorneys applied to the Constitutional Court on November 19. The top court requested the Justice Ministry's opinion on the issue on December 12.

The Human Rights Department of the Ministry presented its opinion as to the individual application of Cemil Uğur.

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'Their press cards are not valid'

The Ministry of Justice has argued in its legal opinion that publications "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" were found in both the workplace and phone of Cemil Uğur and that "he was acting upon the orders and instructions of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), was a part of its hierarchical structure and had an organic link to it."

Referring to the ruling of arrest handed down by the local court, the Ministry has further argued that the press cards of the related persons are not valid: "...it has been understood that a valid press card can be given to the persons who meet the conditions specified by the Presidential Communications Directorate and the related suspects are not press members as they naturally do not have the present conditions..."

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'His arrest is proportional'

The Justice Ministry has requested that the application be found "inadmissible" as the "legal remedies have not been exhausted."

Indicating that "there was credible evidence and strong criminal suspicion" underpinning Uğur's arrest, the Ministry has said that his arrest is "proportional." It has requested that "the application be found inadmissible by the Constitutional Court as the complaint about the arrest despite the absence of the necessary conditions is openly without foundation."

The Ministry has also found it "without foundation" that Uğur was arrested over the news regarding the two citizens dropped from a helicopter.

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What happened?

Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehriban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala have been arrested since October 2020 on the grounds that they reported it with documents that two citizens, Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban, detained by soldiers in Çatak district in Van province, were thrown from a helicopter.

Detained in a raid on October 6, 2020 and arrested shortly afterwards, journalists have been charged with "membership in a terrorist organization" because "they reported on social incidents against the state."

According to the minutes of the court that ruled for their arrest, the reason why the journalists were considered to "have reported on social incidents against the state" was that they covered the incident where the villagers had been thrown from the helicopter.

In the ruling of arrest given for the journalists it was said, "... they engaged in agitation and propaganda; their press cards are not officially valid and, therefore, they are not press members; they reported news of burglary about the possessions protected inside the building and criticizing, degrading and aiming to smear the Republic of Turkey's methods and activities of counterterrorism; they reported news on social incidents against the state..."

Even though the journalists have been arrested in the Van Type T Prison for over 100 days, they have not yet been indicted, just as no lawsuit has been filed against them or no progress has been made in their file. (RT/SD)