TURKEY: Journalists arrested in the full glare of media publicity as investigation into alleged coup plot is widened

Record ID: 785278

  • Title: TURKEY: Journalists arrested in the full glare of media publicity as investigation into alleged coup plot is widened
  • Date: 4th March 2011
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (MARCH 03, 2011) (REUTERS) BUILDING WHERE ODA TV ANKARA REPRESENTATIVE MUMTAZ IDIL LIVES IDIL LEAVING BUILDING, ESCORTED BY POLICE IDIL ENTERS POLICE CAR
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA57IGO4IVIUDM0Q2IGFL7GHNI0
  • Story Text: Turkish police detained six journalists and searched the homes of five other people on Thursday (March 03), further widening a three-year-old investigation into an alleged plot to overthrow the government.
    The Turkish Journalists' Association attacked the journalists' detentions as a threat to press freedom in the European Union candidate country.
    Arrest warrants were issued for the others, including a former intelligence officer, whose houses were being searched in Ankara and Istanbul, the state-run Anatolian news agency said.
    Police carried out the dawn raids two weeks after three other journalists were jailed pending trial on charges of links to the shadowy, ultra-nationalist group known as Ergenekon, alleged to have plotted to overthrow the government in 2003.
    Hundreds of people, from military officers to academics and politicians have been put on trial over a series of alleged plots which reflect deep suspicion between the secular establishment and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party.
    The lawyer representing one of the six journalists detained on Thursday, Ahmet Sik said his client detained over a book he wrote.
    "According to my client, he was detained because of his book writing about an Islamist organisation," Bulent Utku told waiting media who had crowded round as the police executed the arrest in Istanbul.
    There was a similar crowd of media at the home of journalist Nedim Sener, also in Istanbul as he was detained.
    Journalist Aysenur Aslan, among the waiting media, issued a plea for the freedom of the press.
    She said, "I wish not only that Nedim Sener, but also Ahmet Sik and all other colleagues, can work in a free environment as soon as possible."
    In Ankara, another of the six journalists, Mumtaz Idil of Oda TV was detained by police.
    The detention of journalists caused a diplomatic row last month between Turkish officials and the new U.S. ambassador in Ankara over concern about press freedom.
    In Ankara, Interior Minister Besir Atalay told reporters the detentions were solely a matter for the judiciary.
    "This is a judicial decision. In these cases, the court orders police to stage these raids and police do what is ordered. It is a court order taken in Istanbul," said Atalaya.
    Turkey, a NATO member, has pushed through a series of political reforms with the aim of securing European Union membership but rights groups remain critical of its record on freedom of expression.
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