Under arrest for nearly two months, journalist Nur Ener, who is an editor at Yeni Asya daily, got married in Bakırköy Prison with a 10-minute wedding ceremony without any attendance from the members of the couple’s families on Apr.27, 2017.
Journalist Ener was arrested on March 5, 2017 over her alleged use of ByLock, a publicly available messenger program that Turkish authorities claimed used by coup plotters and as the top communication tool among the alleged members of the Gülen movement. The government accuses the movement of masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The movement strongly denies any involvement into the putsch.
Ener had had her wedding scheduled for an earlier time but she failed to make it through due to her arrest. A new date was booked by her fiancé Recep Kılınç only with a change in the venue.
“I feared that the prosecutor would ask me to get permission from the ministry. But that did not happen. He let us marry at 14.00 pm. I took a deep breath and got relaxed. I did not even dare to ask if parents are able to attend. Thus, they failed to attend. Even witnesses are not allowed from outside. We got married with two guards acting as witnesses,” Kılınç told Turkish media.
“I entered the prison along with a registrar. I saw Nur sitting near the wedding table. There were only 5 or 6 chairs and it was a simple table. All was done in 5-10 minutes,” he continued adding that prison guards did not let the new couple for a small talk after the wedding.
In the days leading up the World Press Freedom Day, Turkey stands out from the crowd by a distant margin by holding a record number of 235 journalists and media workers behind bars, breaking an all time world record. More than half of the journalists who are in prison around the world are now located in Turkey, a member of the Council of Europe (CoE) and a candidate member for the European Union (EU).
Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) has documented that 235 journalists are now in jails, most in pre-trial detention languishing in notorious Turkish prisons without even a conviction. Of those in Turkish prisons, 214 are arrested pending trial, Only 21 journalists remain convicted and serving time in Turkish prisons. An outstanding detention warrants remain for 103 journalists who live in exile or remain at large in Turkey. (SCF with turkeypurge.com) May 2, 2017
