IFJ representative denied permission to visit journalist Karaca in prison

A court ruled for Hidayet Karaca's arrest pending trial on Dec. 19, 2014. (Photo: Cihan)
A court ruled for Hidayet Karaca's arrest pending trial on Dec. 19, 2014. (Photo: Cihan)


Date posted: May 26, 2015

The Justice Ministry has rejected a request from a coalition of international journalist organizations to visit imprisoned Turkish journalist Hidayet Karaca at Silivri Prison in İstanbul.

Documents published by the private Cihan news agency on Saturday show that a judge turned down an official request from British journalist Barry White to visit Karaca, who has been imprisoned since Dec. 14, 2014, when he was detained along with dozens of others in a police operation against what President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls the “parallel structure.”

White was to visit Karaca on behalf of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the UK’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), according to a petition signed by Ricardo Gutierrez, the secretary-general of the EFJ. The judge did not say why the request was rejected, citing only two articles of a law and a regulation that concern security measures in prison facilities and visits to prisoners.

The IFJ, EFJ and NUJ represent more than 600,000 journalists in 134 countries, according to the petition addressed to the Turkish authorities. Karaca, who is currently being held in Silivri Prison without any indictment or any reason for the extension of his arrest, was detained just three days before the first anniversary of the massive corruption investigations of Dec. 17 and 25 that implicated people in the inner circle of President Erdoğan.

Erdoğan, who was the prime minister at the time, denied the claims of corruption and described the scandal as a plot against his government by foreign powers and the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, which Erdoğan says has set up a “parallel structure” within the state. In the December 2014 crackdown, Karaca and three former police chiefs were arrested on charges of leading a terrorist network, while other detainees, including Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı, were released pending trial.

Source: Today's Zaman , May 23, 2015

Tags: | | |


Related News

Behind the secret documents – Turkish government profiled a large number of individuals

A story which was published by Taraf daily on Monday has shaken the country. According to the story, the Turkish government profiled a large number of individuals whom it believed to be followers of certain religious and faith-based groups and monitored their activities up until 2013.

Obama is the real turkey in this scenario

Erdogan also made a statement, calling the president of the United States “Barack,” before launching into one of his usual self-serving rants. Typical of a violent Islamist appropriating the moral high ground, the Turkish president agreed that fighting terrorism is of utmost importance. But the “terrorists” to whom he mainly referred were Gulen and the Kurds.

Gülen’s lawyer refutes Erdoğan’s claims as baseless

Nurullah Albayrak, the lawyer of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has denied President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusations against his client, saying the president has misrepresented the claims included in a recently unveiled indictment on a bugging scandal.

1,000 families provided with meat Kimse Yok Mu in Ankara

International charity organization Kimse Yok Mu distributed sacrificed meat to a total of 1,000 families during the Eid al-Adha in Ankara on Thursday. Families received meat in boxes which were paid for the donations from benevolent Turkish people at one of the offices of the KYM in Mamak district.

Corruption scandal will consolidate Turkish democracy

” When all the dust settles in the aftermath of corruption, money laundering and racketeering involving higher-ups in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), we will have the chance to lay the foundation for a democracy by consensus, which is the only way to rule a large country like Turkey with a relatively young population and rising middle class.”

Erdogan plotted purge before coup, say Brussels spies

he European intelligence contradicts the Turkish government’s claim that Fethullah Gülen, an exiled cleric, was behind the plot to overthrow the Turkish government. Ankara is seeking Mr Gülen’s extradition from the US.

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

309 Somali students come to Turkey for education

Turkish schools issue [in Pakistan] still to be resolved

Yobe, Turkish Institutions Team Up To Boost Education

The genesis of the hatred against Gulen and the Hizmet Movement

An AKP-neo-nationalist axis?

Introducing the Hizmet Movement

First purification, next habituation

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News