Can Dündar

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker Murat Emir has filed a criminal complaint against Deputy Prime Minister Tuğrul Türkeş, accusing him of "revealing secret state information."

Kurdish issue-focused Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputies held a sit-in protest in front of the Constitutional Court on June 16 after their request for an appointment in which they aimed to convey their demand to obtain a ruling on the party's arrested lawmakers was rejected. 

Enis Berberoğlu, a member of parliament for the social democratic Republican People's Party (CHP), was sentenced to 25 years in jail by an Istanbul court on June 14 and immediately put in prison. 

An Istanbul court on June 14 sentenced main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Enis Berberoğlu on spying charges over a report on intelligence trucks bound for Syria.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has decided to prioritize the case of the jailed journalists and executives of Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, stating that it will investigate the case "as soon as possible."

Previously, the court had made the same decision about jailed Turkish journalists Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Atilla Taş and Murat Aksoy.

The indictment into daily Cumhuriyet columnists and executives was completed on April 4, nearly five months after the investigation was launched, with the prosecutor seeking jail sentences for all 19 suspects.
 
The former editor-in-chief of the daily, Can Dündar, was named as the prime suspect in the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. 

The state of freedom of expression in Turkey has deteriorated sharply over the past year, particularly since the state of emergency declared after the failed July 2016 coup attempt, Amnesty International's Annual Report stated on Feb. 22.

Prominent Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal has been convicted on charges of conducting "terror propaganda" due to a 2016 article regarding one of the leading figures of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), receiving a suspended sentence of one year, three months in jail.

The German Justice Ministry's invitation to an official reception to former Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar as a guest of honor is a "provocation" ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Turkey, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Müftüoğlu has told reporters. 

The Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry has summoned the German charge d'affaires in Ankara to express its reaction over German Justice Minister Heiko Maas' invitation of Turkish journalist Can Dündar to a reception in Berlin, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on Jan. 24.