he European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) warmly welcomed today Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruling on February 25 stating that the rights of Cumhuriyet newspaper journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül have been violated and underlining the lack of justification to jail them following the publication of several articles. The ruling refers to the violations of Article 19 (“right to personal liberty and security”), Article 26 (freedom of expression) and Article 28 (press freedom) of Turkey’s Constitution.
Dündar, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, and Gül, the newspaper’s Ankara bureau chief, were arrested on 26 November 2015 on charges of aiding a terrorist organisation, espionage and disclosure of classified documents based only on their articles, according to the indictment papers.
Both,arrested journalists have been released the same day around 03:00 am from Istanbul’s Silivri detention center but the prosecution continues against the journalists.
A strong local and international support from colleague journalists, trade unionists and press freedom organisations has been very active and effective for this case since the beginning of their arrests on November 26, 2015.
Welcoming the release of Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, the EFJ-IFJ is now calling the authorities to drop all the charges against them and to release the remaining 30 other journalists still in jail.
“We are happy that our colleagues Can and Erdem have been released. The struggle continues until the release of the last journalist in jail”, said TGS (Journalists Union of Turkey).
Photo Credit : Vedat ARIK / Cumhuriyet daily newspaper / AFP
