The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday called on Turkish authorities to immediately release jailed Etkin News Agency editor Nadiye Gürbüz and drop charges against her and two colleagues, saying their journalistic work was being used as evidence of alleged membership in a terrorist organization.
Gürbüz, editor Pınar Gayıp and reporter Elif Bayburt work for the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), a Turkish socialist outlet. The three spent more than seven months in pretrial detention before appearing at separate hearings in Istanbul this week. Courts released Gayıp and Bayburt pending trial, while Gürbüz was ordered to stay in pretrial detention.
The journalists are accused of membership in the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), a banned militant group that Turkey designates as a terrorist organization. All three denied being members of the group at their hearings.
“Three journalists have lost more than seven months of their lives behind bars, and while Pınar Gayıp and Elif Bayburt were finally freed, Nadiye Gürbüz remains in prison,” CPJ Turkey representative Özgür Öğret said. He called for Gürbüz’s immediate release and an end to trials in which journalistic activity is presented as evidence of a crime.
Police detained Gürbüz, Gayıp and Bayburt on February 3 during an operation in which officers raided ETHA’s Istanbul office. The operation targeted the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), a Turkish political party, and several civil society groups over suspected links to the MLKP. More than 100 people were detained in the operation, according to the CPJ.
Courts ordered the three journalists jailed pending trial on February 5 on charges of membership in a terrorist organization.
The CPJ said it reviewed all three indictments and monitored their first hearings, held before separate Istanbul courts on September 14, September 15 and September 17. According to the press freedom group, prosecutors cited the journalists’ employment at ETHA and their attendance at public events as evidence supporting the accusation that they were MLKP members.
Gayıp was released pending trial at her September 14 hearing. At Gürbüz’s hearing the following day, the court ordered her continued pretrial detention because not all witnesses had been heard. Bayburt was released pending trial at her September 17 hearing.
Gayıp’s trial is scheduled to continue on December 7, followed by Gürbüz’s on December 8 and Bayburt’s on December 10.
The CPJ said it had contacted the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for comment but received no response.
