Court affirms mentioning officials' names doesn't mean 'targeting them for terror groups'

Deputy Justice Minister Akın Gürlek

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Two journalists who were put on trial based on a complaint by Akın Gürlek, a judge who presided over high-profile political cases in recent years and appointed as deputy justice minister after the May elections, were acquitted on June 13.

Canan Coşkun, a reporter for the Diken news portal, Barış Pehlivan, a columnist for the daily Cumhuriyet, were facing charges of "marking anti-terror officials as a target for terrorist organizations" due to their coverage and articles related to one of Gürlek's trials.

The court acquitted Coşkun and Pehlivan, who faced up to three years in prison, citing that the act they were accused of was not defined as a crime in the law. It said the detailed ruling would be released at a later date.

The case in question was opened based on the claim that the managers of the Religious Scholars Solidarity and Solidarity Association (DİAYDER) were operating on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court, presided by Gürlek, had accepted the indictment.

"Mentioning a name does not constitute a crime"

The court released a nine-page detailed ruling yesterday, emphasizing that merely mentioning Gürlek's name did not imply the existence of a crime.

The detailed reasoning included references to previous decisions by the Court of Cassation, the Constitutional Court, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The court stated that Article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law, which is the relevant law for the alleged crime, was designed to protect both public officials involved in the fight against terrorism and informants, but simply mentioning a person's name does not constitute a violation of this article.

Trials of other journalists

Article 6/1 has become one of the most common grounds for allegations against journalists over the past couple of years. Among the journalists who have recently been subject to investigations under this article are bianet editors Ayça Söylemez and Evrim Kepenek.

The case against Söylemez, opened on July 26, was also based on Gürlek's complaint. The case pertains to a column article titled "Mr. Talented Judge" that Söylemez wrote for BirGün newspaper three years ago, mentioning journalists and politicians whose trials were presided over by Gürlek's trial.

On July 25, bianet's Women and LGBTI+ rights editor Evrim Kepenek, T24 editor Sibel Yükler, Mezopotamya Agency reporters Fırat Can Arslan and Delal Akyüz, and journalist Evrim Deniz were also detained under the same charge.

Arslan, who reported on the reassignment of a married judge and prosecutor handling the same case, was arrested. The other four journalists who retweeted Arslan's news were released after being detained. 

(HA/VK)