Merdan Yanardağ, a prominent Turkish television journalist, was arrested on Tuesday, June 27, on charges of “praising crimes and criminals” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization,” Bianet reported. He was detained on Monday and was presented the next day before a judge who ordered a formal arrest pending investigation.
The detention came shortly after a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) legislatos shared parts of his remarks on social media accusing him of supporting Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
In a program on TELE1 TV, where Yanardağ serves as chief editor, he criticized Turkish authorities for not allowing Ocalan to meet his family members and his lawyer. During the program, he noted that Ocalan is the “longest serving political prisoner in Turkey” and if there was rule of law in the country, he would have been released by now.
Yanardağ also accused the Turkish authorities of “holding him [Ocalan] hostage, bargaining with him.” He also claimed that Turkish authorities are “threatening [other dissenters] through him [Ocalan],” Bianet reported.
Yanardağ is being investigated by Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor’s office as well as the Radio and Television Supreme Council for these statements.
Shortly before his arrest, Yanardağ told Bianet that he did not praise Ocalan but was criticizing AKP’s policies and demanding that Ocalan’s isolation should be ended.
Ocalan led PKK, formed in 1984, to fight against the discrimination and persecution of Kurdish minorities in Turkey and for their rights. He was arrested in 1999 and accused of carrying out terrorist attacks and leading a separatist movement.
According to reports, he has not been allowed to meet his family members and lawyers regularly by the Turkish authorities.
Turkey under president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party rule has been accused of persecuting journalists and activists, who are critical of its policies.
Most of the opposition parties in Turkey opposed Yanardağ’s arrest and demanded his immediate release. The Turkish Communist Party (TKP) called for greater unity against oppressive state policies. The party also asked civil society groups in the country to “break the dishonorable silence” on such repressive policies.
The Workers Party of Turkey (TiP) also called the arrest unlawful.
The European Federation of Journalists issued a statement condemning Yanardağ’s arrest and demanding his immediate release claiming that he was “only doing his job by commenting on the state censorship of Abdullah Ocalan.”
