Posts Tagged ‘Turkey’
September 20th, 2011
The publication of Halkin Gunlugu (The People’s Agenda) newspaper
was suspended for one month on 10 September. All copies of the paper were seized and distribution of the latest issue is to be stopped under Article 25/2 of the Press Law and Articles 6/2 and 7/2 of Law No.3713 (Anti-Terror Law). The decision stems from a series of articles in the 18th issue of the weekly paper which covered the deaths of militants in the Maoist Communist Party and its armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army, in armed conflicts. The prosecution ordered the publication ban on grounds of alleged “propaganda for an illegal armed terrorist organisation”.
September 8th, 2011
Two
Turkish investigative journalists have spent
six months in prison before they go to trial. Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener were
arrested on 3 March for being involved with the alleged terrorist conspiracy known as “Ergenekon.” Turkish authorities jailed Sik for an unpublished draft copy of a book he had written which is said to contain revelations about the “Ergenekon” plot. Prosecutor Cihan Kansiz set a date for the trial of the 14 defendants, including Sik, Sener and nine other journalists last week. Many of the defendants work for Oda TV news website and were arrested between 18 February and 3
March.
August 25th, 2011
On 18 August, police in
Istanbul raided the office of newspaper Aydinlik, as well as Ulusal Kanal television station. Officials
detained five journalists following the raids, reportedly in connection to an ongoing investigation of
Ergenekon, a “secular ultra-nationalist group” for attempts to oust the adminstration of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Four of the journalists were released, but Turhan Özlü, executive editor of Ulusal Kanal, remains in custody.
July 27th, 2011
The Turkish-Armenian editor’s assassin has been imprisoned, but questions about wider plot remain. Kaya Genç reports
(more…)
June 30th, 2011
Istanbul police have
arrested 50 contributors to
Turkey’s largest user-generated dictionary. The “Sour Dictionary” (
Eksi Sozluk) site offers satirical definitions of a number of common words and has been running for around 12 years. The anonymous authors, who were identified through their IP addresses, have been charged with “insulting religion” following a complaint over a discussion about the prophet Muhammed. The site’s administrators have faced criticism for agreeing to hand over authors’ IP addresses to the police.
June 14th, 2011
Turkish police yesterday arrested 32 computer hackers who are suspected of links with the anti-government hacker collective,
Anonymous. Over the weekend
cyber attacks were launched on a number of government sites to protest against proposed net filtering legislation which is expected to be passed later this year. Police raided the homes of 12 homes in cities all over Turkey after software used by the hackers to protect their identities failed.
June 13th, 2011
Ahmet Altan, the editor of liberal daily paper Taraf has appeared in court after he was accused of “exceeding the limits of freedom of expression” by the country’s prime minister. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been in power since 2003, filed
for defamation after Altan accused him of denying the rights of Kurds and for turning his back on his former progressive identity. The prime minister is demanding 50,000 Turkish Liras in compensation and has also filed a criminal complaint against Altan. The case continues.
April 6th, 2011
An Istanbul court has
ordered the seizure of all of investigative journalist Ahmet Sik’s work on his incomplete
book The Army of the Imam. His manuscript explores the connection between the police and the group headed by Turkish Imam Fethullah Gülen. Sik was close to finishing the work when he was
arrested in March. Gülen is now living in exile in the USA. It has been alleged that the book will appear online on 11 April.
