ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities have issued arrest warrants for 42 journalists as part of an inquiry into alleged plotters of the failed coup, drawing harsh criticism from human rights groups.
Thousands of soldiers, police, judges, prosecutors and civil servants have been detained or arrested in connection with their supposed involvement in the attempted putsch of 15 July, but Monday’s arrest warrants are the first targeting members of the press.
The Turkish government blames the network of the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, a long-time ally of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, now turned foe, for the bloody attempt at a military takeover.
But Erol Önderoglu, the Turkey representative for Reporters without Borders, said the latest arrest warrant was an unjustifiable “witch hunt against journalists”.
“It is impossible to find out if a journalist was involved in a serious way with the Gülen network or involved in the coup attempt by using such methods,” said Önderoglu, as five of the journalists were reportedly taken into custody for questioning.
“We recognise the government’s right to investigate the coup plotters, of course, but to respect the right to freedom of expression is one defining principle of a democracy. This is turning into a witch-hunt against journalists that needs to stop.”
One of the journalists targeted by Monday’s arrest warrant is believed to be Fatih Yagmur, an investigative journalist who was fired from his job at the now defunct Radikal daily in 2014 because of what his editors said was “very intense government pressure”.
The newspaper had published his report on trucks owned by the Turkish Intelligence Agency that transported weapons to Syria via Turkey without knowledge of the Turkish parliament, a story for which Yagmur was honored with the EU Investigative Journalism Award 2015.
Speaking to the Guardian via telephone he said that he had left the country after the coup attempt last Friday because he started to receive a torrent of violent threats via social media, including threats of rape and death threats. It is not the first time. After the publication of his articles on the arms trucks he received similar threats.
“I fear for my life, I do not feel safe in Turkey. I do not intend to return before the state of emergency is lifted,” Yagmur said. He said that he was briefly detained at the border for having missed the hearing of a trial against him on charges of insulting the president.