- Title: Prominent Turkish journalist says detained over tweet
- Date: 29th December 2016
- Summary: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MARCH 3, 2011) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** POLICE DETAINING SIK ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MARCH 6, 2011) (REUTERS) POLICE ESCORTING SIK TO VAN AFTER HIS TRIAL AT ISTANBUL COURTHOUSE ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MARCH 12, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SIK SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE SILIVRI PRISON (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH JOURNALIST, AHMET SIK SAYING: "Everybody should be aware that despite all the pressure and cruelty we will continue our struggle for the life we have been striving for and of which the government is afraid of." MAIN GATE OF SILIVRI PRISON, SIK SUPPORTERS
- Embargoed: 13th January 2017 10:41
- Keywords: Turkey journalist Istanbul Ahmet Sik arrest tweet Twitter
- Location: ISTANBUL, TURKEY / INTERNET
- City: ISTANBUL, TURKEY / INTERNET
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA0025EXR96V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Prominent Turkish journalist Ahmet Sik said on Thursday (December 29) he was being detained by authorities over a Twitter statement he made while an opposition lawmaker who spoke to him said the reporter was being accused of terrorist propaganda.
"I am being detained," Sik said on Twitter. "I am going to be taken to the prosecutor's office over a tweet."
Baris Yarkadas, a lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said on Twitter Sik had told him he was being accused of terror propaganda.
Turkish prosecutors could not be reached for comment but the state-run news agency Anadolu said Sik was also being accused of insulting the Turkish state, its judiciary, military and police through several Twitter posts and his work on the Cumhuriyet newspaper.
At least 81 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), with more than 130 media outlets shut since a failed coup attempt in July. Journalists and writers are largely facing charges of terrorist propaganda.
Ankara blames the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, for orchestrating the failed coup, when rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets and more than 240 people were killed. Gulen, who lives in the United States, denies involvement.
Sik has long been critical of Gulen. In 2011 he was jailed for a year over a book on the cleric's life, as part of a series of court cases that led to the imprisonment of hundreds of soldiers and journalists who said they were targeted by the Gulenist judiciary. The convictions were later overturned and cases were thrown out. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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