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A warrant has been issued against Cengiz Çandar, who is prosecuted over his social media posts about Ayşe Deniz Karacagil, known as "the girl with the red scarf" during the Gezi resistance of 2013 and killed by ISIS in Rojava, a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria.
As reported by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), in his tweet on May 30, 2017, journalist Çandar expressed his sadness for the death of Karacagil. He is now standing trial on charge of "praising the crime and the criminal". The first hearing of the case was held at the İstanbul 30th Penal Court of First Instance yesterday (January 19).
While Çandar, living abroad, did not attend the hearing, his attorney Erselan Aktan requested that his statement be taken via rogatory*.
The prosecutor demanded that the request for the rogatory be accepted and a detention warrant be issued against Çandar so that his statement can be taken if he comes to Turkey. The court has accepted both requests and ruled that a warrant shall be issued against the journalist.
'The state justice system has found itself in'
Cengiz Çandar has made a statement about the issue and defined the warrant against himself as "a new negative example manifesting the state in which Turkey's justice mechanism has found itself."
"I feel sorry," he has said and shared the following information:
"The case is about a two-sentence tweet that I wrote about a young girl who lost his life while fighting ISIS in 2017. My tweet dated May 30, 2017 is as follows: 'The Girl with the Red Scarf, the angel of Gezi who warmed us inside with the most beautiful smile. She has once again burned our hearts, falling to the ground before Raqqa and rising to the stars.'
"An investigation was conducted into these two sentences on the virtual platform two years later and while it was decided to file a lawsuit for 'praising the crime and the criminal' in July 2020, my deposition could not be taken 'as I could not be found' and, now, a 'detention warrant' has been issued so that my deposition can be taken.
"Where I am and what I do have been obvious for nearly five years now. It is known with the title of 'Honorable Researcher' at the Stockholm University in Sweden, with conferences that I attend as a Senior Middle East Expert at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, one of the leading think-tanks of the world, and with my several publications.
"I have had a career in journalism for 40 years. Regardless of its reasons, issuing a 'detention warrant' against me is extremely inappropriate, considering my name and social standing. While a written notification can be delivered to me about a land suit in Bursa, it is far from being credible that the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office could not find me.
"I was informed about the lawsuit filed against me by the other defendant of the suit that I am not directly acquainted with. S/he could find me!
"I will follow the legal procedure and make the necessary deposition when the request for the deposition is delivered to me. Unfortunately, all these will not suffice to cover up the sad situation that the justice mechanism in Turkey has found itself in." (HA/SD)
* Letters rogatory: "Documents making a request through a foreign court to obtain information or evidence from a specified person within the jurisdiction of that court." (Source: Oxford Dictionary)
