A court in Istanbul arrested Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul for a June report suggesting Turkish intelligence services were funneling arms to Syria.
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Two prominent Turkish journalists have been arrested on charges of espionage and aiding an armed terrorist organization, according to a news report. Under Mr Erdogan’s rule, the country’s ranking on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index has slid.
Turkey says Russian Federation is targeting moderate Syrian opposition groups, including Turkmens, in its aerial bombardment in Syria.
The United States has said it is “troubled” by the pre-trial arrest of top editors of Turkey’s critical newspaper Cumhuriyet, calling on Turkish authorities to uphold freedoms to ensure stronger Turkish democracy.
The demonstrators, who included journalists and members of the parliament, chanted anti-government slogans such as “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism”, and “Tayyip thief, Tayyip liar, Tayyip killer”, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has taken legal action in person against Dundar, requesting life sentence for him. The trucks that carried weapons were reportedly searched by police, with Cumhuriyet obtaining the photos and videos of their contents.
According to Cumhuriyet, the trucks were carrying six containers filled with 80,000 round for machine gun, 1,000 mortar shells, and 1,000 artillery shells destined for militants in Syria.
He also stated that they are not “heroes”, and that they are only “journalists”.
Turkish authorities denied all allegations by claiming that the trucks were carrying humanitarian aid for Syrian Turkmen.
“We would also like to hope that your desire to end the crisis will not stand in the way of your sensitivity towards human rights, freedom of press and expression as fundamental values of the Western world”, the two journalists said in a letter to the European Union leaders, as quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper.
After a wave of crackdowns on opposition news media that gained impetus following the Justice and Development Party recovered its parliamentary majority in elections, the arrests were the latest setback to press freedom in Turkey. “We came here to show and to prove that governments can not engage in illegal activity and to defend this”, the journalist added.
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Publication of the story at the time prompted Erdogan to vow revenge, saying those behind it endangered security and would “pay a heavy price”.
