Thousands Protest Arrest of 2 Turkish Journalists on Spying Charges
By CEYLAN YEGINSU
ISTANBUL — Thousands gathered across Istanbul on Friday to protest the arrest of two prominent journalists on charges of espionage over a report alleging that the country’s intelligence services had sent arms shipments to Islamist rebels in Syria.
A court in Istanbul on Thursday ordered the arrest of Can Dundar, the editor in chief of the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, and of Erdem Gul, the newspaper’s Ankara bureau chief, on charges of divulging state secrets and being members of an armed terrorist organization. If found guilty, they would face life imprisonment. Demonstrations against the arrests were held in several parts of Istanbul, with the main rally held outside the newspaper’s headquarters Friday, where protesters chanted “shoulder to shoulder against fascism” and held up banners that denounced a “black day for the press.”
The arrests came after a wave of crackdowns on opposition news media in Turkey that gained momentum after the Justice and Development Party regained its parliamentary majority in elections this month. The result allowed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to further secure his grip on power.
Mr. Erdogan personally filed the criminal complaint against Cumhuriyet in June after he delivered a speech accusing the newspaper of engaging in acts of espionage, vowing that the author would “pay a heavy price.”
Mr. Dundar and Mr. Gul are also accused of being members of an organization linked to the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who has been living in Pennsylvania since 1999 and whom Mr. Erdogan accuses of trying to topple the government.
Cumhuriyet published an article in May that was accompanied by video showing local authorities seizing crates on the back of a truck. The report said the crates contained weapons linked to the National Intelligence Organization, the Turkish security service, that were bound for Islamist rebels in Syria.
The report emerged at a delicate time, coming a week before the crucial parliamentary election that was seen as a referendum on Mr. Erdogan and his plans to alter the Turkish Constitution to concentrate more powers in an executive presidency.
At the time, Turkey was facing increased criticism for aiding Islamist militants in Syria — an allegation the government denies. Turkish officials insisted that the footage published by Cumhuriyet showed humanitarian aid that was bound for the Turkmen population in Syria, which has strong ethnic ties with Turkey. But recently, Mr. Erdogan has backtracked somewhat, asking what difference it would make if the truck had been carrying weapons instead of aid.
Before testifying to prosecutors on Thursday, Mr. Dundar rejected the charges against him, saying that his newspaper and its staff members were merely doing their jobs as journalists.
“We are not traitors, spies or heroes; we are journalists,” Mr. Dundar said.
The court ruling came just weeks after the European Union delivered a scathing report about Turkey’s attempts to join the block, criticizing Mr. Erdogan for “serious backsliding” on press freedom. In recent months, opposition news outlets have been shut down; criminal charges have been brought against journalists for insulting the president; and publications have been raided and their content seized.
Mohammed Rasool, a freelance journalist for Vice News who has been accused of assisting a terrorist organization, has been in pretrial detention in a maximum-security prison since August as the Turkish authorities decide whether to press charges.
Turkey ranks 149th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders news media freedom index. On Tuesday, the organization awarded Cumhuriyet its 2015 Press Freedom Prize for courageous journalism.
Before the court hearing on Thursday, the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloire, said in a statement, “If these two journalists are imprisoned, it will be additional evidence that the Turkish authorities are ready to use methods worthy of a bygone age in order to suppress independent journalism in Turkey.”
揭土耳其運軍火給敘利亞叛軍 記者被捕
土耳其共和報(Cumhuriyet)兩名記者因一篇報導被控「洩漏國家機密」,遭到當局逮捕,引發不滿的民眾27日在伊斯坦堡報社外示威抗議,指控土耳其總統厄多岡是「殺手」。
法新社報導,現場超過1000名抗議人士,包括記者與反對黨國會議員,高喊「並肩對抗法西斯」和「厄多岡是竊賊、厄多岡是說謊者、厄多岡是殺手」。
伊斯坦堡法院26日起訴共和報總編輯鄧達(Can Dundar)與安卡拉分社負責人莒內(Erdem Gul),指控兩人是間諜,兩人先前聲稱土耳其情報單位秘密運送武器給敘利亞境內伊斯蘭叛軍。兩人被控「洩漏國家機密」,並遭到審判前拘禁。
這家反對派報紙報導稱,土耳其安全部隊2014年1月在靠近敘利亞邊界攔截一列車隊,查獲裝有武器彈藥的箱子,準備送往對抗敘利亞總統阿塞德的叛軍。
這些畫面5月被公布在共和報網站上,描述警方從卡車後面打開武器彈藥箱,共和報聲稱卡車隸屬土耳其情報機構。
這篇報導在土耳其引發公憤,激起對政府在敘利亞所扮演角色的懷疑。
美國駐安卡拉大使館在推特貼文,表達對記者被捕事件的關切;貼文說:「我們非常關切這起逮捕事件…似乎是又一起媒體受到壓力的事件。」、「我們希望土耳其法院與當局能維護土耳其憲法明定的媒體自由基本原則。」
原文參照:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/28/world/europe/thousands-protest-arrest-of-2-turkish-journalists-on-spying-charges.html
Video:Protesters in Istanbul spoke out after two journalists, Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, were arrested on charges that included the divulging of state secrets.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000004061830/protests-erupt-over-arrested-journalists.html
2015-11-29 世界日報 編譯中心