New lawsuit against journalist Deniz Yücel for ‘insulting Erdoğan’

* Photo: Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The Press Bureau of the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has issued a new indictment against Deniz Yücel, the former Turkey correspondent of the Germany-based Die Welt newspaper.

Deniz Yücel faces charges for writing about President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the headline "Der Putschist" (The Putschist) in Welt am Sonntag, the Sunday supplement of the newspaper, on November 6, 2016.

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The Prosecutor's Office has requested that Yücel be penalized on charge of "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) over this report in the headline and inside the newspaper.

As reported by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), the indictment has indicated that Yücel, in his related article, put the title of "putschist" above the picture of Erdoğan and wrote that Erdoğan was restructuring the state, suppressing protests and breaking down the country.

The prosecutor's office has also argued that the expression of "putschist" "publicly harmed the honor, dignity and respectability" of Erdoğan.

The file of this trial has been merged with the file of the case where Yücel is charged with "publicly degrading the state" over his two articles dated October 2016 with the anecdote "May the Kurd not see his mother" and the expression of "genocide committed against Armenians."

"The personal, actual and legal connection" between the two files has been cited as the reason for merging the two court cases.

The first hearing of the merged cases will be held at the İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of First Instance on July 1, 2021.

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What happened?

Deniz Yücel was taken into custody in Turkey on February 14, 2017 over his news reports concerning the hacking of the then Energy Minister Berat Albayrak's email account by RedHack. He was arrested by the court on February 27, 2017 on charges of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and "provoking the public to hatred and hostility."

Speaking about the issue, President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan briefly said:

"This man is a terrorist, not a journalist and unfortunately the German government lumps my ministers together with this terrorist. The problem lies here. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told me 'We would be glad if you free him'. I told her he is not a journalist but a terrorist. Deniz Yücel hid in the German Consulate General. This man is a terrorist, not a journalist".

Deniz Yücel stayed behind bars for nearly a year. Following the indictment issued against him, the İstanbul 32nd Heavy Penal Court ruled for the release of Deniz Yücel on February 16, 2018. Yücel went to Germany after he was released from prison in Turkey.

While he was still arrested, Yücel made an individual application to the Constitutional Court. His file was examined by the top court two years after the incident, on June 28, 2019. The Constitutional Court concluded that his one-year imprisonment violated his rights and ruled that he should be paid 25 thousand lira in non-pecuniary damages. However, the local court ruled that his statement taken in Berlin should be awaited.

At the hearing held on February 13, 2020, the prosecutor announced the opinion as to the accusations and demanded that Deniz Yücel be sentenced to 15 years, 3 months in prison. It was alleged that Deniz Yücel, with some articles published in Die Welt, "propagandized for the Kurdistan Workers Party / Kurdistan Communities Union (PKK/KCK)."

Announcing its ruling at the final hearing on July 16, 2020, the court ruled that Yücel should be acquitted of "provoking the public to hatred and hostility and sentenced him to 2 years, 9 months, 22 days in prison for "propagandizing for the PKK/KCK armed terrorist organization" via the press.

The court also ruled that a criminal complaint should be filed against Deniz Yücel over his two articles published in Die Welt in 2016 on the grounds that he allegedly "insulted the President" and "degraded the State of the Republic of Turkey, its government, judicial bodies and the security organization of the state" as per the Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

Upon this criminal complaint, a new lawsuit was filed against Yücel and a prison sentence of 6 months to 2 years was demanded for him. The first hearing of this trial was held on May 12, 2021. (HA/SD)