NEWS CENTER - In the indictment of Mehmet Ali Ertaş who is the Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Xwebûn, newspapers and books in Kurdish, letters sent to him from prison and interviews he made were considered crimes.

 

The 728-page indictment, prepared 10 months later, against 18 journalists, 15 of whom were imprisoned in Amed(Diyarbakır), was accepted by the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court. Journalists are accused of "being a member of a terrorist organization" on the grounds of their programs, interviews with their guests, statements they made, and the production companies they worked for. One of the arrested journalists, Mehmet Ali Ertaş, Editor-in-Chief of Xwebûn Newspaper, is one of the journalists who are being sentenced for "Being a member of a terrorist organization".

 

In the section of the indictment regarding Ertaş, the broadcast discussions obtained from the servers of Sterk TV and Medya TV broadcasting from abroad were made the subject of accusation. The program "Çavdêrî", which Ertaş made with his colleagues, is among the accusations. It was claimed that the questions asked and evaluations about current developments in the program constituted the crime of "propaganda for a terrorist organization".

 

INTERVIEWS ARE CONDIDERED A CRIME

 

Ertaş's interviews on various dates were also included in the indictment. Ertaş's interview with lawyer Kazım Bayraktar on April 2, 2021, on the isolation on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and the pressures on Kurdish politics; Interview with İHD Honorary President Akın Birdal on December 7, 2020; On September 28, 2019, a statement by TEV-DEM Board Member Foza Yûsif about the attacks against Northern and Eastern Syria was among the news that was the subject of the crime.

 

Books confiscated during the police raid were also shown as criminal evidence. While it was stated that there was a confiscation decision regarding the books, the evaluation especially on Jineology and Democratic Modernity drew attention. The aforementioned magazines, which are still meeting with their readers, were tried to be criminalized through some confessors.

 

KURDISH NEWSPAPERS

 

The issues of Azadiya Welat, which was the first daily Kurdish newspaper and closed with the Decree, and Xwebûn, the only weekly Kurdish newspaper now, were also considered crimes. Regarding the newspapers, it was evaluated that "the organization carries out activities within the scope of propaganda activities".

 

Photographs of Gurbetelli Ersöz, who became Turkey's first female editor-in-chief with her duty at Özgür Gündem, and Rohat Aktaş, Editor-in-Chief of Azadiya Welat newspaper, who was burned to death in the basements where they were trapped in Cizîr, were also subject to crime.

 

Another remarkable detail in the indictment was that the letters that reached outside after they had passed through the prison administrations were considered a crime. From B.A's Kayseri Women's Prison; The letters S.A. sent from Diyarbakır Prison were included in the indictment. It was noteworthy that the people who wrote the letters had records with allegations of "Being a member of a terrorist organization" or "organizing propaganda".

 

ANONYMOUS WITNESS

 

The statements of the anonymous witness named "CV23TY45UP78" that they were "making a program" about all journalists were also included in the section about journalist Ertaş.

 

In the "evaluation" part of the indictment, it is stated for Ertaş: "To implement the instructions sent from Sterk TV and Medyahaber TV, to hold meetings with abroad centers once a month through different applications, to include organizational pictures, videos and records in their digital materials, and to make a statement to the media organs supporting the organization. There were allegations that he had organic ties with the terrorist organization with his actions, that he was included in the hierarchy of the organization, and that he acted knowingly and willingly in line with the aims of the organization."

 

MA / Azad Altay