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14 face terrorism charges for protesting journalists’ deaths in alleged Turkish drone strike

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Fourteen people, including seven journalists, are facing terrorism-related charges for participating in a protest over the killing of two Kurdish journalists in an alleged Turkish drone strike in northern Syria last month, the Bianet news website reported.

The protest, organized by the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, the Mezopotamya Women Journalists Association and the Press Workers Union (DİSK Basın-İş), took place in İstanbul’s Şişhane Square on December 21.

Protesters condemned the death of Nazım Daştan, 32, and Cihan Bilgin, 29, who were killed on December 19 near the Tishrin Dam, east of Aleppo, while covering clashes between Ankara-backed forces and US-supported Kurdish fighters.

The indictment, drafted by İstanbul prosecutor Furkan Kafalı, accuses the group of “disseminating terrorist propaganda” during the protest in addition to violating the law on meetings and demonstrations.

Kafalı demanded a prison sentence of up to eight years for each of the accused journalists— Gülistan Dursun, Can Papila, Pınar Gayıp, Serpil Ünal, Hayri Tunç, Enes Sezgin and Osman Akın — as well as for protesters Hacı Ugış, İmam Şenol, Mahsum Sağlam, Pelin Laçın and Yadigar Aygün. A university student, Yağmur Filiz, faces separate charges of “insulting a public official” and violating the same demonstration law, with a potential five-year sentence.

The indictment says the protest took place despite a ban imposed by the Beyoğlu district governor’s office.

The prosecutor accused the protesters of carrying photos of Daştan and Bilgin — whom he said were accused of “membership in a terrorist organization” — and chanting slogans that insulted the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Armed Forces. However, he did not provide any evidence to support the charge of disseminating terrorist propaganda.

Rights groups routinely accuse Turkey’s government of undermining media freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down critical media outlets, especially since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan survived a failed coup in July 2016.

Turkey, one of the world’s top jailers of journalists, is ranked 158th among 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2024 World Press Freedom Index, not far from North Korea, which occupies the last position on the list.

The president is also accused of exerting absolute control over the judiciary thanks to vast powers granted him by a presidential system of governance.

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