Two top Turkish journalists went on trial in Istanbul yesterday, accused of espionage and other serious crimes and facing possible life in prison over a story about the nation’s role in the Syrian conflict.
Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Erdem Gul, his Ankara bureau chief, were facing charges of revealing state secrets “for espionage purposes,” seeking to “violently” overthrow the government of that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and aiding an “armed terrorist organization.”
The pair have already spent three months in pretrial detention over the story, which ran in the leading opposition newspaper in May last year, accusing the government of seeking to illicitly deliver arms to rebels in Syria.
Photo: AP
The report sparked a furor, fueling speculation about the government’s role in the Syrian conflict and its alleged ties to militant Muslim groups in the country.
Erdogan warned Dundar that he would “pay a heavy price” for the story.
Prosecutors have asked for the journalists to be sentenced to two life terms and 30 additional years.
On Feb. 26, the journalists were released from prison to jubilant scenes after the Constitutional Court ruled their right to free speech had been breached.
Erdogan said he had “no respect” for the court’s decision, even threatening the bench with dissolution.
Dundar, 54, has vowed to turn his trial on its head by putting the authorities in the dock.
“We are not going to defend ourselves; we will put the crimes of the state on trial,” he told a press conference this month.
Dundar was to publish a new book entitled Tutuklandik (“We Have Been Arrested”) yesterday, in which he promised to reveal how the paper obtained the information about the Turkish weapons deliveries and took the decision to publish it.
The prosecution of the journalists has sparked outrage among opposition and rights groups in Turkey, as well as in the West, where it is seen as proof of Erdogan’s determination to silence his opponents.
“The trial of Dundar and Gul is a test for the state of law in Turkey,” said Christophe Deloire, secretary-general of press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
“Their release was encouraging, but things are only beginning now,” he added.
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