Local journalists acquitted of terrorism but their TV channel is gone ‘forever’

Trials of 10 journalists and three executives pf media outlets were completed between January 23 and February 5. Seven of them were acquitted, cases against three of them were dismissed and three were given prison sentences for "terrorism-related" offenses, according to bianet's Media Monitoring Database.

Also, one journalist was assaulted, access to a columnist's two articles about corruption was blocked in a week and a court began to retry the Özgür Gündem newspaper case. 

Here is a summary of legal interferences with the news media in the two-week period:

Television channel turned into a planetarium

Van TV, a local broadcaster in the eastern province of Van, was one of the 179 media outlets that the government closed down during the two-year state of emergency following the July 2016 coup attempt. 

It allegedly had connections with "terrorist organizations" and was considered to be a "threat to national security," according to Statutory Decree No. 668 published on July 27, 2016.

More than 50 employees of the channel were left unemployed.

In February 2020, prosecutors requested prison sentences for its five journalists, one executive and two owners on the charges of "terrorist propaganda" and "continuous terrorist propaganda." The allegations were based on news content.

At the final hearing on January 29, all but one of the defendants were acquitted of charges. Nahide Aslan, a presenter at the channel, was given a deferred prison sentence of one-and-a-half years.

Photo: AA

Like most of the other outlets that were shut down by statutory decrees, Van TV was never relaunched. Decisions to shut down only nine of the 179 media outlets were reversed in further statutory decrees while the State of Emergency Inquiry Commission rejected 78 percent of more than 126,000 appeals it received against the decisions by the authorities during the state of emergency.

All of Van TV's properties and assets were handed over to the Treasury and it was removed from the list of Turksat, the state-run satellite TV operator, as per the statutory decree.

All the moveable properties inside the channel's building were sold by the Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF).

The Treasury later handed over the building to the municipality, following the city mayor's replacement with a government-appointed "trustee" in November 2016.

After the coup attempt, the government dismissed dozens of co-mayors from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in the Kurdish-majority cities and towns in the eastern and southeastern regions.

By the end of November 29, the Mİnistry of Interior had replaced 35 DBP co-mayors due to "terrorism-related" investigations against them. 

About one year after the trustee assumed office at the Van Municipality, Van TV's building was turned into a cultural center with a ceremony attended by Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services Fatma Betül Sayan-Kaya.

In July 2019, a planetarium opened in the building as part of a joining project by the Edremit District Municipality, the Edremit Sub-Governor's Office and the Eastern Anatolian Development Agency (DAKA).

Sub-Governor Atıf Çiçekli said during the opening ceremony that Van TV had become a broadcast organ of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) but then it was turned into a building that was used to "serve children and the youth."

Completed trials

• Mezopotamya Agency (MA) Managing Editor Ferhat Çelik was indicted in October over a news report titled "Bugs mixed with arrestees' food in Bayburt. Çelik was charged with "fabricating offense" as per Article 271 of the Turkish Criminal Code. He was acquitted in the first hearing on February 3.
• Journalist Banu Güven was acquitted of "praising a crime and a criminal" in the case filed because of a social media post.
• A court on January 27 dismissed pro-government businessperson Mehmet Cengiz's claim for damages against Cumhuriyet over a report about a construction project carried out by his company.
• An investigation was opened against journalist Alican Uludağ in September because of a social media post where he criticized the former Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor who was appointed as a member of the Court of Cassation. He was given a deferred prison sentence of 10 months for "marking a counterterrorism official as a target" on February 3.
• Journalist İdris Sayılğan, a reporter for Mesopotamia Agency, has been sentenced to four years in prison for "continuously propagandizing for a terrorist organization." 

Retrial begins in Özgür Gündem case

After the court of appeals overturned the acquittals of Erol Önderoğlu, Şebnem Korur-Fincancı and Ahmet Nesin and ruled for their retrial in the Özgür Gündem case, they had their first hearing at the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court in Çağlayan on February 3.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Representative to Turkey Erol Önderoğlu, Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Central Council Chair Prof. Şebnem Korur-Fincancı and writer Ahmet Nesin were previously acquitted by the local court in the lawsuit filed against them for joining the "Editors-in-Chief on Duty" campaign for the closed Özgür Gündem newspaper.

The three defendants were acquitted in July 2019 but an appeals court overturned the verdict on procedural grounds in November and ruled for the retrial of the case.

Another journalist was attacked

Osman Güdü, who prepares and hosts the "Kent ve Yaşam" (City and Life) program at KRT TV, was attacked when he left his office in İstanbulon February 4. Güdü was hospitalized after the incident and his head has been stitched up with nine stitches.

Güdü was reportedly hit in the head with a hard object several times. The assaulter also hurled swearwords at Güdü.

While the assailants left the scene of the incident, Güdü spent the night at the hospital.

A few days before the attack, Osman Güdü said on his program at KRT TV that "religious sects and communities were running wild in Bayburt province."

Five journalists were assaulted throughout Turkey in the last month. 

Columnist gets two articles banned in a week

Access to an article by Murat Ağırel, a columnist for daily Yeniçağ, was blocked on the grounds of violating personal rights. The article was titled "TRT's [state-run broadcaster] expenditures omitted from audit" on the grounds of violation of personal rights (January 26). Five days before that, another article of the columnist about a meat fraud scandal was also banned. 

(VK)