Journalists Ugur Koc and Berkant Gultekin, who work for BirGun.net, and its managing editor Yasar Gokdemir were detained at their homes late Saturday for “targeting individuals engaged in counterterrorism efforts”, BirGun’s editor in chief Ibrahim Varli wrote on X.
He said it was for publishing a story about a journalist from the pro-government Sabah newspaper visiting Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Akin Gurlek, which “had already been announced by (Sabah) itself”.
“They are trying to intimidate the press and society with investigations and detentions,” Varli wrote.
Articles or comments about Istanbul’s top prosecutor have triggered several legal probes in recent months, including the latest investigation into Istanbul’s powerful opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as well as another probe late last year into opposition leader Ozgur Ozel, who heads the CHP party.
The overnight detentions were denounced by Ozel as “an unprecedented disgrace” in a post on X.
“The detention of journalists Ugur Koc, Berkant Gultekin and Yasar Gokdemir for publishing a news item that was already published by Sabah newspaper is an unprecedented disgrace. Trying to fabricate a crime out of this is a sign of guilt. The journalists must be released immediately,” he said.
The Turkish authorities have regularly targeted journalists, lawyers and elected political representatives but there has been an uptick of cases in recent weeks, with three journalists from the opposition Halk TV detained late last month for broadcasting an interview an expert witness involved in the Imamoglu probe.
In another investigation ordered by Gurlek, Melisa Sozen, an actor who played a Kurdish militant in a 2017 series of the hit French spy thriller “The Bureau”, was quizzed by police this week on grounds of alleged “terrorist propaganda”, the DHA news agency and Halk TV said.
The probe was related to the fatigues she wore for the part, which were allegedly similar to those worn by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militants that Ankara says are linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).