8 Sep 2011 | Index Index, minipost
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 Turkish authorities jailed Sik for an unpublished draft copy of a book he had written which is said to contain revelations about the “Ergenekon” plot.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.
25 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
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.
27 Jul 2011 | News and features
The Turkish-Armenian editor’s assassin has been imprisoned, but questions about wider plot remain. Kaya Genç reports
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30 Jun 2011 | minipost, News and features
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.
