Barış Terkoğlu, the editor in chief of the web news outlet was detained when his house was raided at 6:30 in the morning by the Turkish police. His was accused of publishing the funeral of a top-ranking intelligence officer who was killed alongside many other top generals when the Hafter forces decimated the Turkish top brass in Libya.
After his detention couple of days ago the editor in chief of the web site OdaTV was arrested for publishing the secret funeral of a secret service agent who was killed in Libya.
Turkey is trying to keep quiet about its involvement in Libya. However, as body bags pile up, it becomes harder to do so.
Barış Terkoğlu, the editor in chief of the web news outlet was detained when his house was raided at 6:30 in the morning by the Turkish police. His was accused of publishing the funeral of a top-ranking intelligence officer who was killed alongside many other top generals when the Hafter forces decimated the Turkish top brass in Libya.
Journalist Hülya Kılınç who had reported the secret funeral was also arrested.
The news appeared on OdaTV titled, “OdaTV was able to obtain the pictures from the quiet and private funeral without any observance of the Libya martyr of the MIT (Turkish secret service).”
The prosecutor asked the defendants the reason why the funeral was made a news. The journalists are accused because, as the prosecutor put it, “there is power in the news.”
The OdaTV editor was questioned at the “Inspection of Terrorism and Organized Crimes Bureau” department and arrested by the orders of the vice chief prosecutor Hasan Yılmaz.
While the editor was being questioned, a detention order surfaced on the journalist Hülya Kılınç who had reported the funeral. Kılınç detained in Manisa province was brought to Istanbul for her questioning.
During the questioning, another court ordered “prevention of access” to the news of the funeral. This means nobody will be able to access the news online.
After questioning the journalists, the court decided on their arrest at around 3:00AM in the morning.
The court showed the title and the contents of the news as the main offence for the arrests. The judges agreed that the news puts the lives of the family of the agent in jeopardy and hinders intelligence operations. They also believed that the journalists posed a flight risk, so an arrest was necessary.
Strange events surrounding the news
Turkish president and the head of the ruling AKP party Recep Tayyip Erdoğan causally mentioned in a speech, “We have some martyrs in Libya.” This level of casual announcement immediately attracted attention because respect and observance of martyrs and martyrdom is usually a serious and well publicized event in Turkish history.
Investigating further, journalists Murat Ağırel and Batuhan Çolak decided to share their findings through their social media accounts. However, in a very mysterious way their Twitter and e-mails suddenly were hacked and seized by unknown attackers. More interestingly all information regarding the secret funeral was wiped clean from their folders and accounts.
The death of the two high ranking intelligence officer was also discussed in the National Assembly where their names were revealed by the opposition nationalist IYI party speaker who also revealed that they worked for MIT, the Turkish intelligence organization.
Even though their full names were revealed previously, even in the National Assembly, the OdaTV news did not openly publish the names of the officers killed in Libya. Their names were coded before publication.
While the editor of OdaTV was in detention and had not been informed of the reason for his detention, the Sabah Daily, a pro-government propaganda paper had already obtained and published the accusation for his arrest. The paper also printed the law regarding the intelligence agencies to its letter that the editor was accused of breaching.
In his defense Terkoğlu said, “By assuming this is a just court, I answered in my defense. I knew I would be charged even long before I was detained at my home. I told this to my attorney too. I don’t think that me standing here as the defender has anything to do with the news we published. The news in question is only an excuse to make me come here as a suspect. It was 9 years ago that I was again here defending myself but was again being arrested. Years later that very same trial was proven to be a trick, an entrapment. Today, the same establishment, under a different name, the Fethullah Gülen structure supported by the current government, is making me a target even when there is not even an investigation or a case. When there wasn’t even an investigation or questioning, last time I ripped the entire accusation and marched out of this courtroom.”
In his statement, Terkoğlu also defended journalism, “The reason I am being charged and forced to defend myself is because I am the manager of an institution that published a news that was meticulously prepared by a journalist. I did not learn journalism from those who have investigated journalists. I am not going to be lectured about journalism from these accusations, or orders to bring me here as if it serves justice. I am sure the laws regarding the intelligence agencies is unknown to many judges who serve here. I was here 9 years ago together with an MIT, Turkish Intelligence Agency, member. I am not giving out his name here. That MIT official was murdered even before coming here before a court. These so-called justices here today never investigated or questioned the reason of this agent’s death. But I did. That agent’s name, last name, his family member’s names, his address, even his official id’s number, photograph, the books in his library, music cassettes were made public in the court accusation document. I opposed this as being wrong then.
“I am wondering, where were the big justices who are older than me and are presiding over this OdaTV case when the MIT agent was being killed in Libya? Are you going to try me because I am not scared? I said they have no idea about the law concerning the intelligence agencies. Maybe it fits them not to know it.”
In a similar case the government had accused journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül for exposing the Turkish intelligence trucks illegally carrying arms and supplies to the jihadi terrorists in Syria. However, after long trials the Turkish supreme court had decided in favor of the journalists.
The OdaTV editor had been arrested previously in 2011 under the case of “Ergenekon” where the government claimed an organized conspiracy to topple the government was being planned. Terkoğlu was kept behind bars for 19 months while the trial continued. However, those judges who ordered the editor’s arrest themselves are now being accused of many irregularities and only few days ago their trials charging them of “using their titles and offices unjustly” and “to imprisoning people without cause” started at the Turkish high court.
Sendika.org News (M.B.)