Erdem Gül

An Istanbul court has rejected a prosecutor's demand to merge a case in which prosecutors and soldiers are being tried for searching trucks belonging to the Turkish intelligence agency with another case in which daily Cumhuriyet journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül are being tried for publishing a news story about the incident. 

In his speeches to Turkish audiences but addressing world leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an often says that "there should be no good terrorists and bad terrorists" and that "terrorists are terrorists." He's right. But he is not realistic at all if he is seriously expecting the entire world to agree on his own definition of who is a terrorist and who is not. 

It is not possible to consider President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's visit to Washington as a success by any count. The "strategic partnership" between the two countries continues but it is clear that relations are currently very tense. 

Would any rational person say there is freedom of the press in Turkey?

Is there any rational person who thinks the judicial system in Turkey is fair and unbiased?

Is there a single person who says the Syrian policy is correct and in Turkey's interests?

Unfortunately, there is nobody. 

That means we have a situation that can truly be criticized.

Shortly after the U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters that he informed Turkish President Tayyip Erdo?an that the Turkish government's "approach toward the press is one that could lead Turkey down a path that would be very troubling," Erdo?an said the issue did not come up during their 50-minute one-on-one meet on March 31, in Washington D.C.

Germany's ambassador to Turkey has defended his attendance at the controversial trial of two Turkish journalists charged with espionage, while stating that the reason for his summoning to the Turkish Foreign Ministry was not his attendance but rather his photo from the courtroom shared on social media.

Turkish journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül appeared in Istanbul's Ça?layan courthouse for the second hearing of their controversial case on April 1, with the court again ruling not to arrest them for the duration of the trial. 

Prominent Turkish journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül have appeared in Istanbul's Ça?layan courthouse for the second hearing of an "espionage" trial which followed the duo's reports for daily Cumhuriyet about Turkish intelligence trucks transporting hidden weapons to Syria in November 2014. 

The participation of a collection of Western consuls-general at the opening session of the Can Dündar-Erdem Gül court case, which has become a symbol on the limits of press freedom in Turkey, has placed a big question mark on the country's relations with the West. In many European and American publications there is a search for an answer to a vital question: Can Turkey still be a member of NATO

The second hearing of the controversial trial of two prominent Turkish journalists, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, will be held on April 1, following the first hearing on March 25 where the court ruled the whole trial to be held in secret.