Turkey: Drop Charges against Taraf Journalists

Washington, D.C.

In advance of a hearing September 2 in the case against five former journalists of the closed Turkish newspaper Taraf, Freedom House issued the following statement:
 
“The Turkish government’s charges against the five journalists from Taraf are clearly absurd, relating to an out-of-date national security document published in a separate court case before these charges were even brought,” said Robert Herman, vice president for international programs. “Large parts of the indictment are copied from an indictment against different journalists in a completely different case. These charges should be dropped immediately. Additional charges against two of the journalists for ‘membership in a terrorist organization’ should also be dropped absent clear evidence that the supposed terrorist organization exists, and that the journalists are members of it.”
 
Background:

Taraf was an influential independent newspaper in Turkey from 2007-2012, best known for stories claiming to expose plotting and misdeeds by military officers at a time when fears of a military coup against the government were widespread. Several of those stories, including some that were influential in the Ergenekon and Balyoz trials against hundreds of military officers, were later shown to rely on fabricated materials. Turkey’s government used Taraf’s reporting at the time as proof that secularists in Turkey’s military were plotting against it. But the government later fell out with the paper and now is attempting to claim Taraf was part of another coup plot. The paper was officially closed following the July 15 coup attempt and imposition of a state of emergency, although this case predates the coup attempt.

Turkey is rated Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2016, Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2015, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2016.