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

Ergun Poyraz to pay compensation for slandering Fethullah Gulen in his book

AYŞENUR PARILDAK Ergun Poyraz, defendant detainee of Ergenekon Trial, was fined for violating the rights of Fethullah Gulen, in his book “The Imam in America”. With the lawsuit that is filed by Orhan Erdemli, Gulen’s lawyer, Poyraz Publishing and Bizim Avrasya Publishing were sentenced to a total of 5 thousand Turkish Liras compensation. In Ergun […]

Turkey’s political weather forecast

A statement from the Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) said a decree from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKParti) government was against the Turkish Constitution. The Board was mentioning the government’s Dec. 21 decree, asking prosecutors to inform local administrative authorities about their investigations, which was supposed to be confidential

Exclusive: Turkey, Kosovo violated fundamental rights of expelled teachers, UN body says

The UN group called on Ankara to release the six individuals immediately, and the Turkish and Kosovar governments to accord the victims an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.

The consequences of tyranny never change

Certain groups devised an imaginary and ambiguous crime against the Hizmet movement based on claims of a so-called “parallel state.” However, this is such a vague crime that if those who blame the Hizmet movement for establishing a “parallel state” are accused of the same thing, these charges will seem well-founded, because of ambiguity of the claims.

Turkish FM calls on Gülen Movement for dialogue to find way out political crisis

Delivering constructive messages to move away from political crisis over the graft probe, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has invited the Fetullah Gülen movement to engage in “dialogue and a strategic look toward the horizon.”

The AKP, Gülen and Feb. 28 coup

İHSAN YILMAZ The Taraf daily uncovered a secret national security document which revealed that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in 2004 signed on to a planned crackdown on the Hizmet (Gülen) movement. As Today’s Zaman reported on Thursday: “The Taraf daily published a document on Thursday prepared by the National Security Council [MGK] […]

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

A major scandal by the Mukhabarat state

Turkey’s counter-terrorism campaign [against Hizmet] discredited

Erdogan Budgets $150m To Displace Hizmet Schools In Africa

Kimse Yok Mu, Doctors Worldwide step up aid efforts in Syria, Palestine

Prime Ministry approved Kimse Yok Mu, now accused of ‘terrorism’

Fethullah Gülen’s Eid message: Let’s pray for each other

At home and abroad, Erdogan shoots himself in the foot

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News