News / Turkey

Turkey court rules jailed journalists' rights violated

Thursday, 25 February 2016 6:36 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 25 February 2016 6:35 PM ]

Turkish journalists Can Dundar (R) and Erdem Gul.

A Turkish court has ruled that the rights of two jailed Turkish journalists, who are accused of exposing Ankara’s arms delivery to militants operating in Syria, had been violated.

Turkey's constitutional court ruled on Thursday that the imprisonment of the top journalists from the center-left Turkish daily Cumhuriyet for publishing a report on alleged illegal arms transfers to Syria amounted to a violation of their rights.

However, a majority of judges fell short of issuing an order for the immediate release of the journalists, who are currently being detained in Istanbul’s Silivri Prison.

Prosecutors in Turkey have demanded life terms for the journalists.

This comes as Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dundar and the paper’s Ankara representative, Erdem Gul have been under arrest since late November 2015 on charges of treason, espionage, and terrorist propaganda.

The pair has been formally charged with obtaining and revealing state secrets “for espionage purposes” and seeking to “violently” overthrow the Turkish government as well as aiding an “armed terrorist organization.”

People are holding a protest rally in support of Cumhuriyet news editors.

In late May 2015, Cumhuriyet posted on its website footage showing trucks belonging to Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) carrying weapons to the Takfiri terror groups operating in neighboring Syria. The Cumhuriyet video also shows trucks of the MIT being inspected by security officers.

The daily reported the trucks were carrying some 1,000 mortar shells, hundreds of grenade launchers and more than 80,000 rounds of ammunition for light and heavy weapons.

Ankara, however, denied the allegations, saying the trucks had been carrying humanitarian aid to Syria.

The Turkish government has also been criticized for clamping down on journalists and sentencing them to long prison terms. Dozens of journalists are currently imprisoned in the Middle Eastern country.

Turkey has time and again been accused of being one of the main supporters of terrorist groups wreaking havoc in Syria.

Turkey has reportedly been a major supporter of the militant groups operating in Syria, which has been grappling with a foreign-backed crisis since March 2011. It has also been accused on numerous occasions of being involved in illegal oil trade with the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

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