The Journalists' Association stated that the unfounded bribery allegations against İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Sabah newspaper violated the Principles of Press Profession. The organization imposed a condemnation penalty on the intelligence chief Halit Turan, the columnist Mahmut Övür, and the responsible editor Hamza Özdemir.
İmamoğlu, through his lawyer Kemal Polat, filed a complaint with the Journalists' Association against Halit Turan's article titled "Delegation Market in CHP! Imamoglu opened the purse strings: The bribery wheel starts from 500,000 lira" on September 26 and Mahmut Övür's column titled "Conscience and Wallet Reckoning in CHP İstanbul" on September 30.
Polat argued that the mentioned news article and column made criminal allegations against İmamoğlu. He stated that Turan and Övür detailed the claims in their own imaginary worlds, and presented allegations that in contradiction with material and visible facts. He claimed that İmamoğlu's personal rights were being attacked.
In his application, Polat stated, "Baseless accusations akin to bribery have been made by claiming that my client sent money to CHP provincial delegates. Unsupported claims have been put forward in a manner conducive to being perceived by the reader as concrete reality, violating the presumption of innocence and personal rights."
He mentioned that journalists, who have the obligation to investigate the allegations, presenting baseless claims to the public with many details that have no connection to reality as if they were concrete facts, leads to the formation of a definite judgment in the minds of readers. He also expressed that the unfounded allegations were aimed at undermining İmamoğlu's reputation.
No response to the settlement proposal
The Journalists' Association proposed a settlement to the three journalists. However, Turan, Övür, and Özdemir did not respond to the settlement proposal.
Following this, the General Secretariat of the Journalists' Association sent an evaluation to the Higher Council. In the evaluation, it was mentioned that Mahmut Övür, in his column, accused İmamoğlu of distributing the public's money as bribery, making embarrassing criminal allegations.
And the High Council of the Journalists' Association, in a majority vote, imposed a 'condemnation' penalty on Halit Turan, Mahmut Övür, and responsible editor Hamza Özdemir.
Journalists' Association
The Journalists' Association is a self-regulatory organization formed by active journalists in Turkey, advocating freedom of communication, professional ethics, and principles.
It examines complaints related to publications or journalists in the media. It evaluates complaints within the framework of the Journalists' Association By-Laws and the 16-article Professional Principles of the Press.
Regarding applications, it can make decisions of "warning" or "condemnation" based on the degree of violation or the "groundlessness of the complaint." In this regard, its sanctions are moral. (HA/PE)
