Dündar

Dinlebi, Turkey's largest audiobook platform, has secured 515,000 euros of funding during its second seed round.

Dinlebi plans to use the investment to expand its userbase both in Turkey and in foreign markets, according to a company statement.

A Turkish court on June 8 said it will seek the extradition from Germany of fugitive Can Dündar.

Neither Dündar nor his lawyer attended the first hearing of the high-profile case at Istanbul's 14th High Criminal Court.

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.

A Turkish court on Dec. 23 sentenced Can Dündar to 27 years and six months in prison for aiding the terror group FETÖ by publishing state secrets, although not being a part of the hierarchical structure of the organization.

Under the indictment submitted to Istanbul's High Criminal Court no:14 on Oct. 14, Dündar could get anywhere from about 22 to 35 years behind bars.

The trial of seventeen executives and journalists from the daily Cumhuriyet, including the newspaper's editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık Kadri Gürsel and cartoonist Musa Kart, went on to its second day on July 25.

Eleven of the 17, including Gürsel, Sabuncu, Kart and Şık, are held in custody, while the others have already been freed.

The last support in the Middle East for the "Muslim Brotherhood" ended on May 2. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal personally declared the new policy document of his organization, announcing that it is not a "branch of the Muslim Brotherhood" anymore. He also declared that Hamas would form better relations with Egypt and other Muslim countries that have problems with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Eyewitnesses say a prominent Turkish journalist was shot at moments before a verdict was to be given in his trial for allegedly revealing state secrets. The assailant is said to have shouted “traitor” before firing three shots at Can Dundar outside the court in Istanbul.

Turkey's authorities plan to sell Islamic lender Bank Asya by May 29 and will liquidate it if they cannot find a buyer, the chairman of the deposit insurance fund (TMSF) said on Feb. 26.

Socialist International President George Papandreou visited daily Cumhuriyet's office in Istanbul on Dec. 20, voicing his concern over the state of media freedom in Turkey while also expressing his support for Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, two prominent journalists for the newspaper who are currently in prison pending trial on charges of "aiding terrorist organizations."  

The suicide bombers responsible for the double blasts that killed 99 people in Ankara have been on a police wanted list for the past four months, daily Hürriyet has reported.