Merdan Yanardağ, TELE1 editor-in-chief, who was arrested on 27 June after criticising the absolute isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, will face his first trial on 4 October at an Istanbul court in Turkey. Yanardağ, currently detained in Istanbul Silivri Prison, responded to Cumhuriyet’s questions, asking, “How can demanding the fair application of the state’s execution law be a crime?”
Yanardağ elaborated on his arrest, stating, “I pointed out that the government constantly uses İmralı as a political tool, and I said that the government should solve the debated isolation problem by allowing Öcalan to meet with his lawyers and relatives as required by execution law. That’s when all hell broke loose. How can demanding the fair application of the state’s execution law be a crime? There is complete nonsense here.”
He further described the situation as a “legal comedy”, accusing the government of setting a trap and launching a lynching campaign on social media on 25 June. Yanardağ believes his arrest is also an attempt to intimidate independent and opposition media and suppress the significant opposition potential revealed in the elections.
Yanardağ argues that his arrest is a severe violation of the current constitution’s freedom of thought and expression and the indictment lacks evidence for detention: “There is no crime here that requires detention. We clearly see this in the prepared indictment. I was arrested by being accused of the subject I criticised. There is a complete legal comedy here. A severe violation of freedom of thought and expression, according to the existing Constitution, is in question.”
