Turkish journalist and writer face 4 years in jail for a metaphor
Journalists have been suffering the consequences of reporting on the misdeeds of the Turkish Government. Turkey, with the highest number of journalists in prison, and very high numbers of fatal and non-fatal attacks against independent journalists, has witnessed a steep decline in the level of freedom of the media – from 54 to 65 in Freedom House’s Press Freedom Index, which since 2013 rates Turkey as "non free".
The latest incident is a new court case against the journalist Tunca รฤreten concerning an interview he had with Perihan Maฤden, a prominent Turkish writer, on the topic of the September 2015 confiscation of Nokta Mag, a provocative political magazine that has been closed down and its editors arrested.
The crime that รฤreten is accused of is filed under โInsult to the Presidentโ cases (art. 301 of the Turkish Penal Code), and the claim arises from Maฤdenโs statement in the interview that president Erdogan โis behaving like a wild tiger, a wild animal in a cornerโ.
รฤreten writes for the digital platform Diken, which is a young news portal. The Daily Yurt also published the news piece and the presidentโs lawyers cited news clips from Yurt when they contacted the State Chief Prosecutor in Istanbul.
Maฤden has been questioned regarding the quotation; she denied accusations saying that โas a writer I have applied a literary form of similitude while criticizing the raiding of the Nokta Mag.โ
The court has rejected the explanation and a court case has been opened not only for Maฤden who uttered the words โwild animalโ but also for รฤreten who published them. Journalist รฤreten is facing up to 4 years of prison for this court case; the first trial will take place in Istanbul on 12 May 2016.
There are a total of five criminal cases opened against รฤreten: three for โinsult to the Presidentโ, two for โinsult to the Prime Ministerโ and one for โterrorism propaganda through journalismโ.
