Journalist Oğuz Bakır was placed under house arrest on Jul 19 following a social media post about a prosecutor who was photographed with a model of the Renault Toros, a vehicle widely associated with extrajudicial killings and disappearances during the 1990s Kurdish conflict.
Bakır's post identified Cahit Cihad Sarı as the prosecutor mentioned by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Özgür Özel in his recent criticism.
BIA Media Monitoring Reports
In the post, Bakır shared Sarı’s photo with the model car and wrote: “It has been revealed that the prosecutor mentioned by Özgür Özel, who said, ‘Arrogant man. He placed a white Toros there. Who are you threatening? God won’t take your life, He’ll make you suffer,' is Cahit Cihad Sarı, known for taking statements from informants.”
The prosecutor is also involved in the ongoing corruption investigation into the CHP-run İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, which led to the detention of the now-suspended Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and nearly 100 others including municipal officials and employees.
The DİSK Basın İş journalists' union condemned the decision: “Sharing publicly available information is not a crime. We reject the criminalization of journalism by labeling it as incitement. Oğuz Bakır must be released immediately." (HA/VK)
