A Turkish court on Friday sentenced six journalists, including two prominent brothers, to life in jail for aiding plotters of a 2016 failed coup, state media said, a sharp turnaround after the country’s highest court ordered one of the men released.
Mehmet Altan, an economics professor and journalist, and his brother Ahmet, also a journalist, were charged with giving coded messages on a television talk show a day before the abortive military putsch. Nazli Ilicak, another well known journalist, was also among the sentenced.
The case has underscored both the deep concern about press freedom in Turkey as well as worries about the independence of the judiciary under President Tayyip Erdogan. Since the coup more than 50,000 people have been jailed and more than 150,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs.
Court officials were not immediately available to confirm the report from TRT Haber, a state-owned broadcaster. All six have denied the charges. At least three of the men have already been in prison for some 17 months.
The constitutional court, Turkey‘s highest, had previously ruled for Mehmet Altan’s release, saying that his detention amounted to the violation of his rights. However, the penal court rejected that request and decided to keep him in jail as his trial continued.
Ahmet Altan was charged after he said on a programme: “Whatever the developments were that lead to military coups in Turkey, by making the same decisions, Erdogan is paving the same path”.
On the same programme, Mehmet Altan referred to “another structure” within the government that was closely watching the developments to “take its hand out of the bag”.
Prosecutors charged that the comments were coded messages to followers of the cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for orchestrating the coup.
29 Comments
Oh Come ON!
February 17, 2018 at 15:51One can only hope that recipients of draconian prison sentences given out since the attempted coup will be released when there is next a state pardon.
ROC
February 16, 2018 at 21:54this is a reminder Mr Adolf Erdogan will not stop at nothing
elbmw
February 16, 2018 at 19:46“Whatever the developments were that lead to military coups in Turkey, by making the same decisions, Erdogan is paving the same path” [and] “another structure” [will] “take its hand out of the bag” – Presumably this is a reference to Gulen, whom if we are to believe that he has amassed a $50 Billion fortune then it is very surprising that he managed to take his hand out of the bag at all.
Joking aside and although I am no friend or supporter of Erdogan, I can understand why saying such things on TV on the eve of a coup can make someone appear complicit.
Evergreen
February 16, 2018 at 18:45Terrible.
disqus_M1c4Dao5WT
February 17, 2018 at 10:45Indeed.
Gold51
February 16, 2018 at 17:56Don’t cough, sneeze, wink, frown or blow wind in public…….It may be a sign that your a Cleric Gulan supporter.
Erdogan is looking for more publicity for his “nobody cares” coup!
Give it a rest Erdogan…. It’s never been convincing.
How the army lost in a supposed coup attempt in Turkey yet wants to take the world on……its laughable.!
Mist
February 16, 2018 at 17:29And the Police here are raiding newspaper offices as well.
athessalonian
February 16, 2018 at 17:30Not true.
Mist
February 16, 2018 at 17:34Did you not read this news paper yet? “Apart from daily Politis — first to publish the emails, posted on a website – whose journalists were hauled in for questioning, staff at Phileleftheros were also summoned, even though they had not reproduced the offending documents.”
athessalonian
February 16, 2018 at 17:43Indeed I read all this. The parallelisms to the raids of media sources in Turkey you are attempting are non existent.
Mist
February 16, 2018 at 17:48So, Police raid your office here, but it can’t be a raid, because it was not done by the Turkish Police? They are the instrument of the state, beit Greek Cypriot, Turkish, Mongolian or whatever etc.
athessalonian
February 16, 2018 at 17:52The police investigation, not raids, was instigated by alleged violations of the court injunction forbidding the publication of emails.
Mist
February 16, 2018 at 17:57Pedantic as is the way here in Cyprus, sit for hours debating the correct end to open an egg. The were called in for questioning. That is only 1 step away from, “if you don’t come in we will arrest you”. The slippery slope to the gulags.
athessalonian
February 16, 2018 at 17:58A rather emoted view in my view…
elbmw
February 16, 2018 at 19:36My dear fellow one can’t deny that this “purge” has caused much emotional consternation to a great many people. You’d have to be made of ice not to appreciate that.
athessalonian
February 16, 2018 at 22:46My dear fellow I am afraid you are mistaken as this was not the topic of the discussion. And since I appreciate what you have made reference(s) to, I must therefore conclusively conclude that I am not “made of ice.”
elbmw
February 17, 2018 at 01:47Not the topic of the discussion? I guess the headline “Turkish court sentences six journalists to life” had nothing to do with my “purge” remark.
In any case I was sitting here with a lighter and a blow torch in case you were the iceman. 🙂
athessalonian
February 17, 2018 at 03:47Indeed the discussion with poster Mist was about his drawing parallels with police raids on media outlets in Turkey to the latest police questioning of reporters on the Loizidou emails. Yet your response to me was one pertaining to the news in Turkey. What is the significance of an iceman, a lighter and a blow torch?
elbmw
February 17, 2018 at 18:58I use the lighter to light the blow torch and melt the iceman, which was a lighthearted allusion to your response about someones view being emoted. I was trying to say that there is always an emotional side to all such things.
athessalonian
February 17, 2018 at 20:08“They were called in for questioning. That is only 1 step away from, “if you don’t come in we will arrest you”. The slippery slope to the gulags.”
Emoted or not emoted?
elbmw
February 17, 2018 at 22:40Yes for sure. I am not disputing that, but in my view it’s understandable that such things can cause people to become emoted. That’s what I was trying to say to you about Mist’s post in that it may appear as a bit of a stretch to go from “if you don’t come in we will arrest you” to “The slippery slope to the gulags” but let’s face it, history has proven that such events have actually occurred hence why people can be worried and therefore emoted.
athessalonian
February 18, 2018 at 04:00Good thoughts…
elbmw
February 18, 2018 at 19:06Thanks. We persevered and agreed in the end. Maybe you and I should be the negotiators at the next Crans-Montana? Its bound to be fun.
disqus_M1c4Dao5WT
February 16, 2018 at 18:29Stop lying.
Peter G
February 16, 2018 at 17:22Where are all those fine commentators who are bent out of shape about perceived limitations of the press in Cyprus, because the government won’t hand them lists of this or that?
Plasma Dawn
February 16, 2018 at 17:16I was contemplating a few days ago whether Turkey has passed the point of no return or not just yet. Now I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that it has. The long, cold, dark winter has come. A sad, sad day for Turkey.
Muffin the Mule
February 16, 2018 at 17:02Sultan copying Putin and Trump….
Peter G
February 16, 2018 at 17:20You are wrong about Trump: No journalist has been put in prison in America, and Trump is continuously derided in the press and ridiculed by comedians on talk shows.
No, Erdogan is one of a kind. A blood thirsty despot who *wants* to be Sultan, he is not Sultan yet. Trying to normalize what he is doing by saying, Others are doing it as well, is a base, and ultimately anti-Turkish, endeavor.
MountainMan
February 16, 2018 at 16:25What a beautiful free country Turkey has become.