Police detain daily Cumhuriyet's chief online editor in Istanbul

Police detained the chief online editor of daily Cumhuriyet in Istanbul on May 12.

"I am being detained," Cumhuriyet.com.tr Editor-in-Chief Oğuz Güven tweeted just after 7 a.m.

State-run Anadolu Agency, however, said Güven was detained over a report regarding the death of a chief public prosecutor in a car accident in the western province of Denizli. 

Denizli Chief Public Prosecutor Mustafa Alper, 48, and his driver, Muzaffer Akşehirli, were killed on May 10 when a truck laden with debris crashed into their car on a highway in the Merkezefendi district.

Alper was the first chief public prosecutor to launch an investigation into the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) after the July 15, 2016, failed coup attempt, widely believed to have been masterminded by the group.

DİSK Basın-İş, the union to which Güven is a member, decried the journalist's detention, saying he had been detained after being targeted. "He must be released," the union added.

The Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) and Press Council also released statements regarding Güven's detention.

TGC head Turgay Olcayto and General Secretary Sibel Güneş said they were planning to release a statement later but that they criticized the intimidation policy aimed at Cumhuriyet. 

The Press Council, meanwhile, said the incident was another shock given that 159 journalists are under arrest, while another 100 journalists are wanted.

"We learned that Güven and journalist Serhat Yaruk were detained in the early hours of the day. At a time when we were expecting journalists to be released and tried without arrest, new detentions and arrests don't befit democracy. The reason for it is inexplicable," the statement said, adding that ...