Post-coup Turkey tries its best known journalists
As many as 17 directors and journalists from one of Turkey’s most respected newspapers are being tried on Monday after spending over eight months behind bars as the government's post-coup crackdown shows no sign of slowing.
The suspects including writers, cartoonists and executives from opposition mouthpiece Cumhuriyet will go on trial from 0600 GMT at the imposing palace of justice in Istanbul.
Those appearing in court include some of the best known names in Turkish journalism including the columnist Kadri Gursel, the paper's editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, the respected cartoonist Musa Kart and the investigative journalist Ahmet Sik.
Eleven of the 17 suspects are held in jail with the other six free under judicial supervision. The paper's former editor-in-chief Can Dundar is being tried in absentia after fleeing to Germany.
The indictment accuses Cumhuriyet of beginning a "perception operation" with the aim of starting an "asymmetric war" against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If convicted, the defendants could face varying terms of up to 43 years in jail.
They were detained from October last year under the state of emergency implemented after the July 15, 2016 failed coup. Supporters have dismissed the charges as absurd and an attempt to muzzle the newspaper.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Secretary General Christophe Deloire said, "It's journalism in Turkey, not just Cumhuriyet, that is being put on trial."
Turkey ranks 155th on the RSF press freedom meter, which rates 180 countries. There are reportedly 166 journalists behind bars in Turkey.
President Erdogan, however, insisted in an interview earlier this month there were just "two real journalists" behind bars in Turkey.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has said it had found that the detention of the staff was arbitrary and that they should be immediately released and given the right to compensation.
Back in May, UK-based rights body Amnesty International said 250,000 activists had signed an online petition calling for the release of journalists detained in Turkey following the abortive coup.
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“A large swathe of Turkey’s independent journalists are languishing behind bars, held for months on end without charge or trial, or facing prosecution on the basis of vague anti-terrorism laws,” Amnesty’s Secretary General Salil Shetty said at the time.
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