Turkey arrests journalist over social media post, sparking outcry from civic groups

ANKARA — Turkish authorities on Tuesday arrested Turkish journalist Firat Can Arslan over his social media posts, sparking outcry from local and international rights groups. 

Mesopotamia News Agency reporter Arslan was arrested pending trial by a local court after Turkish police detained him and four other journalists earlier in the day. A local prosecutor accused Arslan of “targeting public servants tasked with fighting against terrorism” in a tweet he posted on July 18 on the reappointment of prosecutors who had previously indicted 18 Kurdish journalists over terrorism charges.

Three of four remaining detained journalists, who were taken into custody for retweeting Arslan’s post, have been released on probation and banned from traveling abroad. Bianet editor Evrim Kepenek was waiting for her arraignment trial as of this writing. 

The detainment of journalists has drawn widespread outcry from local and international civic groups. 

Emma Sinclair-Webb, Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia associate director, condemned the detainment of journalists, calling on Turkish authorities to end “bogus criminal investigations" against the journalists. 

“Since the elections, there has been no let up in the absurd pretexts prosecutors and courts doing the bidding of the government use to detain journalists,” she told Al-Monitor following the latest detentions. "Once again we can anticipate baseless charges against five more reporters the authorities don’t like. We condemn this practice,” she added. 

Gokhan Durmus, chairman of the Journalists Union of Turkey, lamented the crackdown as “unacceptable.” 

Rights activists and media watchdogs also condemned journalists’ heavy-handed detention in handcuffs through coordinated dawn raids.

Erol Onderoglu, the Turkey representative for Reporters Without Borders, asked for legal action against disparaging practices toward journalists. 

“In addition to the regular violation of journalistic rights, recently we are also witnessing a shameful spike in violent, abusive and disparaging treatment of press members,” Onderoglu told Al-Monitor. “We want those who were involved in this disproportionate, arbitrary and humiliating treatment to be prosecuted,” he added.

International watchdogs list Turkey among the top jailers of journalists. The country is the fourth top jailer of journalists after Iran, China and Myanmar, according to a report released in December by the New York-based watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists.