Mezopotamya Agency’s managing editor Diren Yurtsever is facing an investigation in Istanbul for several news stories published on the agency website between 2018 and 2022, including one on a high-profile court case against dozens of Kurdish and pro-Kurdish politicians.
Yurtsever is accused of terrorist propaganda and targeting an individual over the 2022 article entitled, “Kobane Trial will hear informants’ testimony”.
The unsigned story on Mezopotamya has detailed statements from defendants and their lawyers, who pointed to mishandled procedures during the Kobane trial. According to Veysel Eski, lawyer for the veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk, at a certain hearing in the case, the court had erroneously produced statements recorded in police custody as witness statements, while the law stipulates that initial statements in police custody are for informative purposes only and do not qualify for court proceedings.
“A secret witness has reportedly identified all of our clients, but has also spoken about current events. The words they use are the exact same as [those of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan],” Eski said. The lawyer also accused the previous chief judge in the case of “lacking discernment”, and “trying dozens of politicians after believing in something ridiculous”. The judge in question, Bahtiyar Çolak, was arrested days before the hearing on charges of founding a criminal organisation, and faced up to 5,600 years in prison for the severe crimes that included fraud for some $5 million.
In the Kobane trial, 108 prominent members of the now-defunct Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including co-chairs and MPs, are on trial in connection with several days of protests in 2014, when Turkey’s Kurdish population took to the streets throughout the country against an Islamic State (ISIS) siege of the Syrian Kurdish town Kobani (Kobanê). Several dozen people lost their lives, a fact which President Erdoğan has frequently used to rile up sentiment against the party and Kurds.
“This is a public case, and is open to all members of the public including journalists,” Yurtsever said in defence of her agency’s story.
“There was no publication ban on the names or court minutes. The conditions of the crime are not met,” she added. “These stories are part of journalistic activity that ensures that society has the right to information.”
