Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and the daily’s Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gül, were arrested due to stories published about Turkish intelligence trucks bound for Syria in early 2014, on Nov. 26 in Istanbul.
“We are accused of ‘spying.’ The president said [our action is] ‘treason.’ We are not traitors, spy, or heroes; we are journalists. What we have done here was an act of journalism,” Dündar said before testifying to prosecutors on Nov. 26, in a case that has been denounced by many as an attack against free press.
“Of course, this prosecution will help enlighten how these incidents took place, rather than how we covered this story,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Office has said the arrest had no connection to press freedom and no rights were violated, in a statement released in response to criticism about the arrest.
It was Dündar himself who announced the decision. “It is an arrest,” he said late on the night of Nov. 26 to those waiting in the court’s corridors, before he said goodbye to his wife, coincidentally on their wedding anniversary, and friends.
“Nothing to feel sorry about; these are medals of honor for us,” he said.
In his testimony, Dündar compared the case to the U.S.’ “Watergate” and “Iran-Contra” scandals, in which journalism played a distinctive role, adding that he believed they had “saved the state from an important mistake” by reporting the story.
“A journalist should report that story if he or she sees the country is in danger,” Gül said before he was arrested.
“My task is to reveal if something is hidden from the people and share it,” he said in his testimony.
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“We are accused of ‘spying.’ The president said [our action is] ‘treason.’ We are not traitors, spy, or heroes; we are journalists. What we have done here was an act of journalism,” Dündar said before testifying to prosecutors on Nov. 26, in a case that has been denounced by many as an attack against free press.
“Of course, this prosecution will help enlighten how these incidents took place, rather than how we covered this story,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Office has said the arrest had no connection to press freedom and no rights were violated, in a statement released in response to criticism about the arrest.
It was Dündar himself who announced the decision. “It is an arrest,” he said late on the night of Nov. 26 to those waiting in the court’s corridors, before he said goodbye to his wife, coincidentally on their wedding anniversary, and friends.
“Nothing to feel sorry about; these are medals of honor for us,” he said.
In his testimony, Dündar compared the case to the U.S.’ “Watergate” and “Iran-Contra” scandals, in which journalism played a distinctive role, adding that he believed they had “saved the state from an important mistake” by reporting the story.
“A journalist should report that story if he or she sees the country is in danger,” Gül said before he was arrested.
“My task is to reveal if something is hidden from the people and share it,” he said in his testimony.
Read more
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