Turkey's main opposition visits daily Cumhuriyet journalists, executives in prison

A delegation from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) on April 28 visited jailed daily Cumhuriyet journalists and executives in Istanbul's Silivri Prison. 

CHP deputy leader Veli Ağbaba, Ankara lawmakers Necati Yılmaz and Şenal Sarıhan and Muğla deputy Nurettin Demir compiled a report with messages from the arrested journalists and executives after their visit. 

In its report, the CHP said it is "ironic" to show Cumhuriyet in the same line as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), which is widely believed to have been behind the July 15, 2016, failed coup attempt. 

"It's one of the many ironies to show Cumhuriyet, which has been following a publishing policy against terrorist groups since its foundation and has been making anti-FETÖ publications even when the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party] and FETÖ were arm-in-arm, in the same line with FETÖ and the PKK. The people we met said they face heavier conditions as they are being charged on FETÖ membership," it stated, adding that they will appear before the court on July 24, nine months after their arrest. 

International Press Institute (IPI) Board member Kadri Gürsel said they were arrested on charges that have "no evidence or reality."

"This is a violation of human rights. Even though the indictment was prepared, we are continued to be punished with long imprisonment," Gürsel told the CHP delegation, adding that the only way he can have connections to ByLock, a smartphone application that came to prominence after it emerged that the movement of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen used it to communicate with members, might be because he received phone calls. 

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