Can Dündar

Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun has called for the extradition of Can Dündar, the exiled former editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet daily who has been sentenced to more than 27 years in jail on espionage and terror charges for one of the paper's stories.

Turkish authorities have issued an arrest warrant for journalist Can Dündar as part of an investigation into the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, state-run Anadolu Agency said on Dec. 5.

An Istanbul court on April 2 issued an arrest warrant and a red notice for exiled former daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar in a case involving the much-publicized National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks that allegedly carried weapons to Syria in 2014. 

The prosecutor in the case of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) trucks bound for Syria on Dec. 20 demanded up to 15 years in jail for main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Enis Berberoğlu and journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül.

The sixth hearing of the trial of 17 executives and journalists from the daily Cumhuriyet, including the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık, Kadri Gürsel and cartoonist Musa Kart, will take place today in a hearing room across Istanbul's Silivri Prison. 

An Istanbul court on July 28 ordered the release of seven daily Cumhuriyet journalists, executives but ruled for the continuation of arrest for another five who are being accused on charges of "supporting terror." 

The released journalists and executives were cartoonist Musa Kart, Bülent Utku, Turan Günay, Önder Çelik, Kemal Güngör, Hakan Karasinir and Güray Öz.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said on July 23 that Turkey's Constitutional Court should release the jailed CHP Istanbul lawmaker Enis Berberoğlu based on a February ruling that paved the way for the release of the two Cumhuriyet journalists, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül.

The start of the trial against journalists and board members of the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet highlights the urgent need to protect journalism and improve media freedom in Turkey, Harlem Désir, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media stated.

Seventeen executives and journalists from daily Cumhuriyet, including Ahmet Şık, Kadri Gürsel and Musa Kart, went on trial July 24 with terror-related offences in the 27th Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul.

Two of the suspects are on the run, while 11 of them are imprisoned and the other six free but still charged.  

July 24 used to be celebrated by Turkish journalists as the anniversary of the abolishment of official press censorship in Turkey.