Court rules for release of Zaman chief editor, Samanyolu manager arrested

Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı (L) and Samanyolu Broadcast Group head Hidayet Karaca (R) pose smiling at the camera after the announcement of the ruling. (Photo: Cihan)
Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı (L) and Samanyolu Broadcast Group head Hidayet Karaca (R) pose smiling at the camera after the announcement of the ruling. (Photo: Cihan)


Date posted: December 19, 2014

A Turkish court ruled on Friday to release the editor-in-chief of the Zaman daily, five days after he was detained on charges of forming and leading an armed terrorist organization.

The court ruled that four others, including Samanyolu TV General Manager Hidayet Karaca, be arrested pending trial.

Zaman Editor-in-Chief Dumanlı and Karaca were detained on Sunday along with a number of other journalists, scriptwriters, producers and police officials in an operation largely viewed as a politically-motivated crackdown on the critical media. Some of the detainees were already released following questioning.

A court ordered that Dumanlı and seven others who were detained on Dec. 14 to be released. However, Karaca and former police chiefs Tufan Ergüder, Ertan Erçıktı and Mustafa Kılıçaslan will be jailed pending trial. They were arrested on charges of forming and leading an armed terrorist organization.

He was released due to lack of evidence. His release, which was announced soon after he learned that his wife had given birth to a baby girl on Friday morning, comes on the condition that he doesn’t leave the country.

Thousands gathered outside Çağlayan Courthouse in İstanbul to show support for the detained journalists and police officials. While crowds celebrated the release of Dumanlı in the courtyard of the courthouse, they protested the arrest order for Karaca and the former police chiefs.

According to reports circulating in the Turkish media, no one except the suspects and their lawyers were allowed in the courtroom.

The testimonies of Dumanlı and Karaca were taken 80 hours after they were first taken into custody.

In his remarks after the ruling was announced, Karaca said: “We believe in God; there is no room for sorrow. … When there is an arrest based on a fictional scenario, it means that the ruling is fictional too.” He added that those who ruled for his arrest will also be put on trial one day.

Source: Today's Zaman , December 19, 2014

Tags: | | | |


Related News

TUSKON says systematic campaign of defamation under way

The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) has criticized what it calls a “systematic campaign of defamation against the business conglomerate,” stressing that its business activities, which help contribute to the Turkish economy, should be welcomed.

Abduction and torture part of war on Gulenists: Report

An Ankara-based rights organization on Thursday released a report delving into the allegations of enforced disappearances and torture that took place in Turkey since the 2016 coup bid. The report reads in its conclusion that out of 28 cases of disappearance, 26 were connected to the persecution of alleged Gulenists, while suggesting at least 16 of them were detained in the capital city of Ankara.

Journalists and Writers Foundation’s statement [on arrest warrant issued for Mr. Gulen]

It is a well-known fact that then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had sent Bülent Arınç to Mr. Fethullah Gülen to give him the message, “We are ready to do anything you want us to do,” and that he had called on Mr. Gülen to return to the country to “put an end to homesickness” in the witness of tens of thousands of spectators in a stadium.

‘My 5-month old son is slowly going blind in prison,’ says jailed mother

Betül Selçuk, a physics teacher who has been held in pretrial detention for almost 11 months over alleged links to the Gülen movement, has told her lawyer that her 5-month-old son, Mehmet Selim, is slowly going blind in prison due to overheating and unhygienic conditions.

Kazakh leader heads to Turkey to explain decision over Gulen schools

The official announcement did not provide any details about the visit, but Nazarbayev is expected to smooth over any disagreements between the two Turkic countries following the failed coup. The Kazakh-Turkish schools employ 1,124 teachers, of whom 1,030 are Kazakh citizens (91.7%) and 94 are Turkish citizens (8.3%).” Kazakhstan also has the Suleyman Demirel University, opened in Almaty in 1996.

Final Declaration of the 32nd Abant International Forum “Freedom of Speech & Respect for the Sacred”

The 32nd Abant International Forum, in line with the recommendations of the 29th Forum with the theme “Africa: Between Experience and Inspiration” was convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 08-09 March 2014 to discuss the topic “Freedom of Speech and Respect for the Sacred”.

Latest News

This notable Pocono resident has been living here in exile since 1999

Logistics companies seized over Gülen links sold in fast-track auction

That is Why the Turkish Government could Pay 1 Billion Euros

ECtHR rules Bulgaria violated rights of Turkish journalist who was deported despite seeking asylum

Fethullah Gülen’s Message of Condolences in the Wake of the Western European Floods

Pregnant woman kept in prison for 4 months over Gülen links despite regulations

Normalization of Abduction, Torture, and Death in Erdogan’s Turkey

Turkey’s Maarif Foundation illegally seized German-run school in Ethiopia, says manager

Failed 2016 coup was gov’t plot to purge Gülenists from state bodies, journalist claims

In Case You Missed It

GYV says claims Hizmet formed political party one big lie

Fethullah Gulen denies ties to attempted coup in Turkey

Defending Hizmet

Understanding Fethullah Gülen (1)

Civil society-democratic relations, Gezi and the Middle East

Police detain Bursa woman on coup charges a day after giving birth

Being the conscience of a nation

Copyright 2021 Hizmet News