Oğuz Güven, the Internet editor of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, was detained early Friday due to a report that appeared on the website of the daily about the recent traffic death of a public prosecutor in the western province of Denizli.
“I am being taken into custody,” Güven tweeted on Friday without elaborating on the charges directed against him.
It later emerged that Güven’s detention was related to a report about the death of Denizli Chief Public Prosecutor Mustafa Alper in a traffic accident on Wednesday. Güven is accused of disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization.
According to Turkish media reports, detention warrants were also issued for 32 readers who left comments under the relevant story.
Cumhuriyet’s Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu was in early November arrested along with eight other Cumhuriyet columnists and executives for allegedly committing crimes on behalf of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15.
Meanwhile, former Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar earlier moved to Germany after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally targeted him for a sensational report in Cumhuriyet about alleged illegal arms deliveries by Turkey to opposition groups in Syria.