#Kadri Gursel

[newstfionline]

After a Turkish Prison, the Potent Symbol of a Lingering Kiss

By Carlotta Gall, NY Times, Oct. 13, 2017

ISTANBUL--When he was released from prison after midnight late last month, Kadri Gursel walked straight to his wife, Nazire, and embraced her. Their lingering kiss in front of the prison, and a soldier’s shy glancing away, was caught on camera by a Turkish photographer and sent round the world.

The kiss came to stand for freedom in more ways than one in today’s Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested or purged from their jobs under a state of emergency declared after a failed coup attempt last year, but that is not the only source of tension. There is also the government’s deepening religious conservatism, which is changing the face of the republic.

For Mr. Gursel the kiss was spontaneous, but it symbolizes much of who he is. A senior columnist for Cumhuriyet, Turkey’s leading opposition newspaper, and board member of the International Press Institute, which works for press freedom, he is one of the most prominent political prisoners to be swept up in the government crackdown.

“We behaved not politically but naturally,” he said of the kiss. But he recognizes that it signifies more to many people. “This has been interpreted as a disobedience to the political culture, the invasion of the public sphere and the imposing of religious conservatism,” he said. “I think we did well. This was needed.”

In one of his first interviews after 11 months in prison, Mr. Gursel, 56, a lean, soft-spoken intellectual, told of his anger at what he called the baseless charges against him and his colleagues, and described the chronicle of persecution that has steadily closed down news outlets in Turkey and shut down independent voices under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Accused of aiding a terrorist organization in a group indictment with 18 others, he still faces serious charges. Most of the accused are from Cumhuriyet, including reporters, executives, a cartoonist and an accountant. Detained 11 months ago, only three of the group remain in jail: a reporter, Ahmet Sik; the editor in chief, Murat Sabuncu; and the paper’s chief executive, Akin Atalay.

“I control my anger. I am not a captive of my anger,” he said, speaking in English and pausing to choose his words. “But someone who stayed 11 months in prison, should be angry. I am very angry.”

As with tens of thousands of other Turkish citizens, they were rounded up in countrywide purges, many of them accused, like Mr. Gursel, of having links to Fethullah Gulen, the United States-based cleric who is blamed by Turkey for directing the failed coup.

More than a hundred news media outlets have been closed and more than 120 journalists detained--more than in any other country in the world, human rights organizations say.

Mr. Erdogan has denied jailing masses of journalists, saying that all but two of those arrested are journalists. The rest he described as terrorists.

The Cumhuriyet group was charged with pursuing an editorial line that favored Mr. Gulen’s movement, as well as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., and a third far-left group. The Turkish government treats all three groups as terrorist organizations.

Mr. Gursel was specifically charged with communicating with Gulen supporters through the Bylock encrypted messaging app. He vehemently rejected the accusations in lengthy testimony in the opening phases of his trial in July last year, and now says that he should never have been detained or charged in the first place.

He pointed out that he never had the app installed on his phone, and although he received scores of messages a couple of years ago from Gulenists in a campaign to win his sympathy, he did not respond to any of them.

His persistence, what he calls his “boring defense,” as well as international pressure paid off with his release from prison, though he still faces a potential 15-year prison sentence if he is ultimately found guilty when his trial resumes at the end of the month.

Sitting in his sunlit apartment overlooking the Bosporus, he said he would not complain about conditions in the Silivri prison, where he was held along with hundreds of other political prisoners--district governors, police chiefs, wealthy businessmen, militants of the far-left, Kurdish members of Parliament and, lately, human rights defenders.

He called it a “nasty, ugly joke” that he was locked up with hundreds of followers of Mr. Gulen, Islamists whom he had criticized strongly in the past. He refers to them generally as the members of cemaat, a fellowship of Islamists, and he is not a fan, joining other critics in accusing them of using underhanded tactics in past years to infiltrate the government and expand their power base.

He says he spent most of his time in prison with two other colleagues in a set of rooms with a kitchen and bathroom: “You cannot call it a cell, they were rooms.” But communication with the outside was limited, and access to a lawyer restricted and without privacy.

Born and brought up in Istanbul, where his father was a businessman, Mr. Gursel found left-wing politics early in life, and the government found him. At age 18 he was imprisoned for nearly four years for belonging to an illegal organization and for crimes against the state.

“Trouble came after me in this country,” he said. “I did not seek it, it followed me. I insisted to be myself and go after my choices.”

While the conviction did not dim his determination to fight for what he believed in, it did have one long-term impact: Because of it, he could not go to college.

His most recent incarceration came at the height of a distinguished career in journalism that he began by publishing a newsletter at primary school. He worked as a reporter with Agence France-Presse in the 1990s--at one point being held captive for three weeks by the P.K.K.--and served as foreign news editor and senior columnist for 19 years at a prominent daily, Milliyet.

For the past decade, his columns and regular television appearances have been a thorn in the side of the president, the governing Justice and Development Party and his own newspaper bosses. As presidential elections approached in 2015, he was fired from Milliyet--for a tweet criticizing Mr. Erdogan’s Syria policy--and dropped from mainstream television.

He joined Cumhuriyet, one of Turkey’s oldest newspapers, but within just a few months, as Mr. Erdogan was seeking greater powers in a referendum, that paper, too, came under siege.

“I was jailed when there was no instrument left to silence me,” Mr. Gursel concluded. “They wanted to silence the newspaper and punish it for its disturbing articles, and they wanted to settle accounts with me.”

[gggmedya]

"Eski Cumhuriyet Gazetesi Yazarı Kadri Gürsel'e Beraat!" https://gggmedya.com/gundem/eski-cumhuriyet-gazetesi-yazari-kadri-gursele-beraat/

[privatshop]

'Yeniden Hapsedilmem Hukuka Aykırıdır' Demişti: Gazeteci Kadri Gürsel İçin Tahliye Kararı Verildi" https://www.ginno.club/2019/05/31/yeniden-hapsedilmem-hukuka-aykiridir-demisti-gazeteci-kadri-gursel-icin-tahliye-karari-verildi/

[ebenpink]

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 4, 2019 http://bit.ly/2FK6bTC

Kadri Gursel, Al-Monitor: Local election defeat bodes more foreign woes for Erdogan About a month ago, while campaigning for Turkey’s March 31 local polls, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that “separating domestic and foreign policy is impossible” and that “domestic policy shapes foreign policy anywhere in the world.” In further remarks at the March 2 rally in Trabzon, he said, “The more our country grew stronger at home, the more it grew stronger and gained respect abroad over the past 17 years. The more the Turkish economy grew, the more influence Turkish diplomats gained. The more Turkish democracy advanced, the more Turkey’s say in foreign affairs increased.” Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- April 4, 2019

Turkey: After election gains, Kurds fear Erdogan's reach -- Felat Bozarslan & Daniel Bellut Ashraf Ghani's grand plan for sustainable peace in Afghanistan -- Samim Arif, Al Jazeera Are Indian election campaigns fueled by illegal cash? -- Murali Krishnan, DW Why are Kenyans starving in food-secure Kenya? -- Patrick Gathara, Al Jazeera Bouteflika's departure is just the beginning of Algeria's struggle -- Simon Tisdall, The Guardian Could Algeria's protests set off Arab Spring 2.0? -- AFP Algeria after Bouteflika: what happens now? -- AFP What is next for Algeria after Bouteflika's resignation? -- Thomas Serres, Al Jazeera Russia Is Already Threatening to Attack Colombia -- Monica Showalter, American Thinker Brexit compromise may rest on UK odd couple May and Corbyn -- Gregory Katz, AP British House of Commons sitting suspended due to leaky roof, proving 'Parliament really is broken' -- ABC News Online Making Sense of Our Russiagate Failure -- George Beebe, National Interest Why We Stand With NATO -- Tim Kaine & Cory Gardner, The Atlantic Game-changing 5G technology set to go live -- Andrew Salmon & Lee Shin-hyung, Asia Times MIT bans Huawei from campus after US government threatened federal funding -- ABC News Online from War News Updates https://ift.tt/2WRDqM1 via IFTTT

[barisinag]

Sitemize "Cumhuriyet yazarı Kadri Gürsel'in resmini yayınlamadı" konusu eklenmiştir. Detaylar için ziyaret ediniz. http://giroku.com/cumhuriyet-yazari-kadri-gurselin-resmini-yayinlamadi/

[mironivanov]

After a Turkish Prison, the Potent Symbol of a Lingering Kiss

A photograph of Kadri Gursel, a prominent journalist, embracing his wife after his release has come to stand for freedom.

[newstfionline]

The Crackdown, and the Loyalist

By Patrick Kingsley, NY Times, March 20, 2017

In one section of Istanbul, an imprisoned journalist’s family tries to cope after Turkey’s crackdown. In another, a neighborhood leader is proud to have taken a bullet for his government during the coup attempt. This is the second part in the State of Emergency series, in which our correspondent takes us behind the scenes of today’s Turkey, a nation in crisis.

After the Raid, a Family Reorients Around Prison. Just after noon, we set off for Turkey’s notorious Silivri prison to visit Nazire Gursel’s husband. She rides in a friend’s car today, but sometimes she takes a shuttle provided by the newspaper her husband works for, Cumhuriyet. So many journalists working for the paper have been arrested that it has hired a special bus service for their relatives.

Her husband, Kadri Gursel, a prominent columnist, is one of at least 81 journalists now imprisoned in Turkey, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Most of them were arrested after a failed coup attempt last July, accused of links either to the Islamist Gulenist movement or to a secular Kurdish militant group.

Mr. Gursel is paradoxically accused of both--an absurd charge, she says. He was a longtime critic of Gulenists. But still the police staged a follow-up raid on the family’s home, seizing his computer, and he was sent to prison in October.

Now, Ms. Gursel is doing what she can to try to help her husband and see him regularly, while trying to keep life as normal as possible for their son, Erdem.

Once, she had hoped Mr. Gursel would be free in time for Erdem’s birthday, in mid-February. But their son turned 11 without his father.

In the meantime, there is another in a long line of trips to prison to make.

Their lives have increasingly become circumscribed by prison regulations. Trying to make her husband more comfortable, she brought him a coat. only to have it rejected because its color was too close to the blue that some of the security forces wear. Another one, with a hood, was also rejected. So she went shopping yet again, this time to an upscale mall in Istanbul. This shopkeeper knew exactly what to give her--she was the latest in a long line of prisoner’s relatives to ask.

“In what normal country does that happen?” Ms. Gursel asks, before we pull into a roadside canteen for lunch. “Where the shopkeepers in a mall in the middle of Istanbul, far from prison, know the specifications of a prison coat?”

Around 90 kilometers west of Istanbul, we are finally near Silivri prison. Previously lighthearted, Ms. Gursel’s mood now darkens. “I feel very nervous,” she says. “As I get closer to Silivri, this unlawfulness that we’re in becomes more concrete.”

Shortly after 3 p.m., we catch sight of the site itself, a sprawling series of compounds.

We pass through one checkpoint and park just before a second. Only Ms. Gursel can proceed any farther. “I feel like I’m in the Second World War,” she says, before heading inside. “My son watched a couple of movies about the Nazis, and when he came here, he asked: ‘Is this place like a Nazi camp?’ “

While Ms. Gursel speaks to her husband through a window inside, I mill around the parking lot with the relatives of prisoners. It seems like a cross section of Turkish society. There are expensive Jeeps and cheap hatchbacks. Niqab-wearers walk past people with dyed-blonde hair. But no matter who they are, most carry flimsy black sacks--bags for the inmates’ laundry.

Shortly after 4 p.m., Ms. Gursel emerges with her own.

Taking a Bullet for Loyalty. Can Cumurcu stands up a lot. It is partly because of his job: He is the muhtar, or elected headman, of a small neighborhood on the Asian side of Istanbul, and his role involves dealing with the administrative concerns of local residents.

When I visited his office for an hour recently, he rose every few minutes to greet the latest local to pop by for a signature or permission slip. One wanted to know where he could buy a boiler.

“Just hang on!” Mr. Cumurcu said to me after another interruption, a telephone earbud dangling from his ear. “One more phone call!”

But there is another reason Mr. Cumurcu stands. During last summer’s coup attempt, the muhtar, a loyalist to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, led the resistance against rebel soldiers in his neighborhood. As the troops tried to storm the area, a bullet tore through his upper-right thigh.

The wound has not properly healed. “I have to stand to avoid the pain,” he said.

Mr. Cumurcu took me on a tour of the area, Cengelkoy, and when he wasn’t embracing or chatting with residents, he showed me how events unfolded that night.

We passed the spot where a group of breathless locals first told him that troops were on the move, shortly after 10 p.m. on July 15. He said that around an hour after that, a pro-coup army colonel approached him with a rifle and told him to go indoors. “Are you high?” Mr. Cumurcu recounted saying. “What have you drunk?”

The colonel was chased away. In his absence, Mr. Cumurcu organized a series of barricades, on this spot outside the local police station.

I asked if during those moments, Mr. Cumurcu had considered prioritizing his personal safety over his political loyalty. But the way he tells it, he did not think twice. He prayed. He prayed again. He spoke to his family as if this were the last time he would see them. And after calling the presidency to check whether Mr. Erdogan was still alive, he prepared for a long night.

Shortly after midnight, the soldiers returned. “Soldiers of Turkey!” Mr. Cumurcu remembered shouting. “Do not fire on your own people!” Moments later, the bullet hit him.

Seventeen other residents died there that night, including his nephew. But Mr. Cumurcu survived to become a hero--a defender of democracy.

As we strolled, I wondered if Mr. Cumurcu had any qualms about what his heroism later led to: the erosion of wider democratic values and the arrest of thousands of dissidents in a postcoup crackdown--including dozens of journalists like Mr. Gursel.

But when I raise this, Mr. Cumurcu claims that none of the latter are actually journalists. All of them, he argues, have in some way tried to undermine the state, which is not the role of the media. “In Britain,” he asks, referring to my home country, “are you not first for the state, and then communist or right wing after that?”

It is a question that hints at a particular conception of the individual’s role in a society, and one that helps explain why a man like Mr. Cumurcu might prioritize political loyalty over personal safety on a night like the coup.

Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Cumurcu said, has not just improved infrastructure and services since his party came to power in 2002. He has also brought dignity to pious Turks who felt ostracized by previous governments that, among other measures, upheld a ban on the Muslim veil in public institutions.

Mr. Erdogan, the head man said, “helped a group of oppressed people to rise.”

[efdnet]

Kadri Gürsel's piece: "'Gezi generation' fleeing Turkey...

Kadri Gürsel’s piece: “‘Gezi generation’ fleeing Turkey…

‘Gezi generation’ fleeing Turkey Al-Monitor – Kadri Gursel – Sep 20, 7:33 PM

Speaking at an Istanbul fair Sept. 13, Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank — a long-time chief adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before joining the Cabinet after the June elections — lamented that the

In other ugly news:

Turkey jails 24 Istanbul airport workers pending trial after protests

[citizentruth-blog]

Erdogan Victorious in Turkey’s Presidential Election - EUROPE

New Post has been published on https://citizentruth.org/erdogan-victorious-in-turkeys-presidential-election/

Erdogan Victorious in Turkey’s Presidential Election

On Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was officially declared the winner in Turkey’s presidential election by earning more than 50 percent of the vote, putting him back in office again.

The victory of Erdogan, backed by the Justice and Development Party (AK) was announced by the country’s Highest Electoral Council on Sunday. AK formed a coalition with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to secure Erdogan’s win.

The win also makes Erdogan the first Turkish leader under Turkey’s new constitutional presidential system, which strengthens the presidential powers and abolishes the post of prime minister.

The changes in the government system were approved under a referendum held last year. The presidential system gives the president more power by allowing him to impose a state of emergency, elect government’s officials without any consultation and intervene in the legal system.

“In this new system, the parliament is only there to make it look like a democracy. Most of the powers are now with the president, with Erdogan. It’s a bespoke system designed to suit Erdogan’s personal aspirations,” said Ibrahim Dogus, director of London-based Centre for Turkey Studies.

The 64-year-old incumbent has ruled Turkey for the last 15 years, both as prime minister (from 2003 to 2014) and president (from 2014 to now).

As of June 25, 2018, around 97.7 percent of the total vote had been counted. AKP also won the largest control of parliament by earning 45 percent of the vote. The official results will be announced on Friday, June 29,2018.

A Blow to Democracy?

Erdogan’s winning has divided the nation and the world as well. Many working-class Turks celebrate Erdogan as a figure who is succeeding in transforming the country’s economy by focusing on developing vital infrastructures such as roads, schools and hospital.

But for pro-democracy activists, Erdogan resuming power is an increasing and threatening concentration of powers. They accuse the incumbent of stifling democracy and press freedoms. Erdogan sent several activists and political opponents to jail following a failed coup attempt in 2016. Last March, an Erdogan-affiliated business, Demiroren Holding, acquired Dogan Holding, the country’s largest alternative media firm that operates CNN Turks, Hurriyet newspaper and the Dogan news agency for $890 million.

“With this huge takeover, including Hürriyet, Turkish mass media industry comes under the direct political control of President Erdoğan,” Kadri Gürsel, a veteran journalist who was freed from prison pending trial over his work, said on his Twitter account.

Erdogan Says Otherwise

After the result was announced, Erdogan thanked his supporters and shared an appreciation for the Turkish people’s participation in the vote, given voter turnout stood at 87 percent.

“Our democracy has won, the people’s will has won, Turkey has won,” Erdogan told cheering supporters in the country’s capital Ankara.

What’s Next for Turkey and the World?

The new administration is expected to prioritize economic reforms, budgetary discipline and to ascertain the central bank’s independence to provide security to investors, as Erdogan’s chief economic adviser Cemil Ertem explained to Reuters. The Turkish Lira is also facing depreciation and has slid 20 percent since January. Many investors fear that Erdogan will force the central bank to slash borrowing costs to boost growth amid double-digit inflation.

Other concerns voiced around the world are over Turkey’s human rights record, involvement in Syria, the uncertainty of Turkey’s NATO future and their potential path to European Union (EU) membership.

Turkey’s military involvement in Syria will likely continue (despite being limited by the presence of Iran and Russia in the war-torn country). In Erdogan’s speech, he promised to “liberate Syria’s land” so refugees can return to their home countries safely. Turkey is home to 3.5 million Syrian refugees, data from The Brooking Institute showed.

The EU Stays Quiet

At EU headquarters in Brussels, there was a cautious reaction to Erdogan’s victory. The EU is facing a dilemma in dealing with Turkey. If it blocks Turkey’s membership, the organization will violate its principles by ignoring a country which is striving for democracy. But if it accepts Turkey, the 28-nation bloc will have to deal with Turkey’s alleged opposition to the EU values, like freedom of the press.

Many experts are doubtful Turkey will be accepted into the EU. Prominent Turkish writer Nedim Gursel stated remarked that Turkey keeps breaking EU rules and has no respect for the bloc’s values.

“Every day, Turkey is further and further away from meeting EU regulations… Turkey can’t be in the EU as it doesn’t respect EU rules,” he said.

However, he added that Turkey has a “card to play with the Syrian refugees.”

  The Censorship Of Turkish Media, Is The Press Across Europe Under Attack?

[cleopatrarps]

Turkish Court Convicts 13 From Cumhuriyet Newspaper on Terrorism Charges

“I see this as an attack against us and against all the journalism community, against all our colleagues for us not to practice journalism in Turkey, to be scared while doing it,” Mr. Sabuncu added. “We can go to jail one more time if necessary. We will go on doing journalism with courage.”

The defendants convicted on Wednesday were part of a larger group of 18. Three were acquitted, and the cases of two others — as well as two not associated with the newspaper — will continue.

The case against Cumhuriyet began in 2016, as part of the widespread government crackdown against dissent in the aftermath of the failed coup in July of that year. Twelve of the group were arrested in early-morning police raids on their homes on Oct. 31, 2016.

The defendants were charged with lending support to several terrorist organizations, including the movement of an Islamist cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding the failed coup of 2016 from exile in the United States; the Kurdish separatist movement; the Kurdistan Workers’ Party; and an extreme-left party known as the DHKP-C.

Prosecutors accused members of the group of helping terrorist organizations, through telephone and internet contacts, and in some cases through an encrypted telephone application called ByLock. The executives and board members were also accused of changing the editorial direction of the newspaper to support the groups.

The prosecutors had demanded lengthy prison sentences for all the defendants, ranging from seven years to 43 years.

The defendants and the management of Cumhuriyet denied all the charges and have accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of organizing a political trial to silence its critics.

Defending themselves against the charges, some of the journalists offered examples of their work to show that they had been critical of the same organizations they were accused of supporting.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Atalay had been in detention for more than 17 months, including months of pretrial detention. Mr. Sabuncu, the editor in chief, and the others were released at different stages during the trial, which began last July.

Their lengthy pretrial detention — it took prosecutors nine months to produce an indictment — and the lack of convincing evidence supporting the charges, led to accusations from the journalists, their lawyers and press freedom organizations that the trial was politically motivated.

In a statement before the verdict was announced, the Vienna-based International Press Institute said Cumhuriyet and its journalists were prosecuted because they critically reported on the activities of Turkey’s government and the governing Justice and Development Party.

“Prosecutors have produced no concrete evidence for the charges of links to terrorist organizations,” Caroline Stockford, the press institute’s coordinator for Turkey, said in the statement. “Anything other than a complete acquittal and compensation for the defendants for the violation of their rights will be an outright injustice.”

In their statements in court on Wednesday, the defendants expressed a determination to continue their work as journalists.

“We, Cumhuriyet, will never give up resisting against evil, which is the reason of our existence,” Mr. Atalay said.

Kadri Gursel, a senior columnist and an adviser to the newspaper’s board, said: “We were arrested because we are journalists and exercise journalism. We will continue to exercise our profession no matter how hard it is to do so in the absence of law and justice.”

Musa Kart, the newspaper’s cartoonist, said, “With this trial, months have been stolen from our lives, but they cannot steal our hopes for a better future for our country.”

There are about 160 journalists currently behind bars in Turkey, most of them detained in a government crackdown that closed 170 news media outlets in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt.

Continue reading the main story

The post Turkish Court Convicts 13 From Cumhuriyet Newspaper on Terrorism Charges appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2r3DUAa via News of World

[party-hard-or-die]

Turkish Court Convicts 13 From Cumhuriyet Newspaper on Terrorism Charges

“I see this as an attack against us and against all the journalism community, against all our colleagues for us not to practice journalism in Turkey, to be scared while doing it,” Mr. Sabuncu added. “We can go to jail one more time if necessary. We will go on doing journalism with courage.”

The defendants convicted on Wednesday were part of a larger group of 18. Three were acquitted, and the cases of two others — as well as two not associated with the newspaper — will continue.

The case against Cumhuriyet began in 2016, as part of the widespread government crackdown against dissent in the aftermath of the failed coup in July of that year. Twelve of the group were arrested in early-morning police raids on their homes on Oct. 31, 2016.

The defendants were charged with lending support to several terrorist organizations, including the movement of an Islamist cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding the failed coup of 2016 from exile in the United States; the Kurdish separatist movement; the Kurdistan Workers’ Party; and an extreme-left party known as the DHKP-C.

Prosecutors accused members of the group of helping terrorist organizations, through telephone and internet contacts, and in some cases through an encrypted telephone application called ByLock. The executives and board members were also accused of changing the editorial direction of the newspaper to support the groups.

The prosecutors had demanded lengthy prison sentences for all the defendants, ranging from seven years to 43 years.

The defendants and the management of Cumhuriyet denied all the charges and have accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of organizing a political trial to silence its critics.

Defending themselves against the charges, some of the journalists offered examples of their work to show that they had been critical of the same organizations they were accused of supporting.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Atalay had been in detention for more than 17 months, including months of pretrial detention. Mr. Sabuncu, the editor in chief, and the others were released at different stages during the trial, which began last July.

Their lengthy pretrial detention — it took prosecutors nine months to produce an indictment — and the lack of convincing evidence supporting the charges, led to accusations from the journalists, their lawyers and press freedom organizations that the trial was politically motivated.

In a statement before the verdict was announced, the Vienna-based International Press Institute said Cumhuriyet and its journalists were prosecuted because they critically reported on the activities of Turkey’s government and the governing Justice and Development Party.

“Prosecutors have produced no concrete evidence for the charges of links to terrorist organizations,” Caroline Stockford, the press institute’s coordinator for Turkey, said in the statement. “Anything other than a complete acquittal and compensation for the defendants for the violation of their rights will be an outright injustice.”

In their statements in court on Wednesday, the defendants expressed a determination to continue their work as journalists.

“We, Cumhuriyet, will never give up resisting against evil, which is the reason of our existence,” Mr. Atalay said.

Kadri Gursel, a senior columnist and an adviser to the newspaper’s board, said: “We were arrested because we are journalists and exercise journalism. We will continue to exercise our profession no matter how hard it is to do so in the absence of law and justice.”

Musa Kart, the newspaper’s cartoonist, said, “With this trial, months have been stolen from our lives, but they cannot steal our hopes for a better future for our country.”

There are about 160 journalists currently behind bars in Turkey, most of them detained in a government crackdown that closed 170 news media outlets in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt.

Continue reading the main story

The post Turkish Court Convicts 13 From Cumhuriyet Newspaper on Terrorism Charges appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2r3DUAa via Breaking News

[newestbalance]

Turkish Court Convicts 13 From Cumhuriyet Newspaper on Terrorism Charges

“I see this as an attack against us and against all the journalism community, against all our colleagues for us not to practice journalism in Turkey, to be scared while doing it,” Mr. Sabuncu added. “We can go to jail one more time if necessary. We will go on doing journalism with courage.”

The defendants convicted on Wednesday were part of a larger group of 18. Three were acquitted, and the cases of two others — as well as two not associated with the newspaper — will continue.

The case against Cumhuriyet began in 2016, as part of the widespread government crackdown against dissent in the aftermath of the failed coup in July of that year. Twelve of the group were arrested in early-morning police raids on their homes on Oct. 31, 2016.

The defendants were charged with lending support to several terrorist organizations, including the movement of an Islamist cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding the failed coup of 2016 from exile in the United States; the Kurdish separatist movement; the Kurdistan Workers’ Party; and an extreme-left party known as the DHKP-C.

Prosecutors accused members of the group of helping terrorist organizations, through telephone and internet contacts, and in some cases through an encrypted telephone application called ByLock. The executives and board members were also accused of changing the editorial direction of the newspaper to support the groups.

The prosecutors had demanded lengthy prison sentences for all the defendants, ranging from seven years to 43 years.

The defendants and the management of Cumhuriyet denied all the charges and have accused the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of organizing a political trial to silence its critics.

Defending themselves against the charges, some of the journalists offered examples of their work to show that they had been critical of the same organizations they were accused of supporting.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Atalay had been in detention for more than 17 months, including months of pretrial detention. Mr. Sabuncu, the editor in chief, and the others were released at different stages during the trial, which began last July.

Their lengthy pretrial detention — it took prosecutors nine months to produce an indictment — and the lack of convincing evidence supporting the charges, led to accusations from the journalists, their lawyers and press freedom organizations that the trial was politically motivated.

In a statement before the verdict was announced, the Vienna-based International Press Institute said Cumhuriyet and its journalists were prosecuted because they critically reported on the activities of Turkey’s government and the governing Justice and Development Party.

“Prosecutors have produced no concrete evidence for the charges of links to terrorist organizations,” Caroline Stockford, the press institute’s coordinator for Turkey, said in the statement. “Anything other than a complete acquittal and compensation for the defendants for the violation of their rights will be an outright injustice.”

In their statements in court on Wednesday, the defendants expressed a determination to continue their work as journalists.

“We, Cumhuriyet, will never give up resisting against evil, which is the reason of our existence,” Mr. Atalay said.

Kadri Gursel, a senior columnist and an adviser to the newspaper’s board, said: “We were arrested because we are journalists and exercise journalism. We will continue to exercise our profession no matter how hard it is to do so in the absence of law and justice.”

Musa Kart, the newspaper’s cartoonist, said, “With this trial, months have been stolen from our lives, but they cannot steal our hopes for a better future for our country.”

There are about 160 journalists currently behind bars in Turkey, most of them detained in a government crackdown that closed 170 news media outlets in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt.

Continue reading the main story

The post Turkish Court Convicts 13 From Cumhuriyet Newspaper on Terrorism Charges appeared first on World The News.

from World The News https://ift.tt/2r3DUAa via Everyday News

[buyukakin]

aşk ve sevgi dediğin... http://www.internethaber.com/kadri-gurselin-esi-nazire-kalkan-gursel-kimdir-opusme-fotografi-tek-degil-foto-galerisi-1810480.htm 👏👍☀️

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A photograph of Kadri Gursel, a prominent journalist, embracing his wife after his release has come to stand for freedom. from NYT > Home Page http://ift.tt/2ygEsZe

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A photograph of Kadri Gursel, a prominent journalist, embracing his wife after his release has come to stand for freedom. via NYT > Home Page http://ift.tt/2ygEsZe

New York Times

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After a Turkish Prison, the Potent Symbol of a Lingering Kiss

After a Turkish Prison, the Potent Symbol of a Lingering Kiss

A photograph of Kadri Gursel, a prominent journalist, embracing his wife after his release has come to stand for freedom.x