Arrest of the Editor of a Major Government-Critical Newspaper in Turkey

Continuing the arrests related to the failed coup last summer in Turkey, it was announced on Monday in Ankara that Murat Sabuncu, the editor of Cumhuriyet newspaper, and several other journalists from the same newspaper have been arrested. According to the German news agency, citing Cumhuriyet newspaper, the prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for fourteen journalists working at this newspaper, among whom are Akın Atalay, the CEO, and Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief. Cumhuriyet is one of Turkey's oldest newspapers and the main secular and government-critical newspaper in the country. Can Dündar, along with Erdem Gül, the head of Cumhuriyet's office in Ankara, was tried and sentenced to prison about a year ago for publishing images and reports related to the 'secret shipment' of weapons by the Turkish intelligence agency to Syria. Can Dündar currently resides in Germany. According to Cumhuriyet, the prosecutor has accused this newspaper of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Fethullah Gülen movement. The PKK is labeled as a 'terrorist organization' by the Turkish government; the government accuses Fethullah Gülen of being involved in the failed coup in July and attempting to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The prosecutor's order, based on martial law, deprives the detainees of the right to contact their defense lawyer for five days. Additionally, under the state of emergency laws, the police have the right to interrogate the detainees for thirty days before handing them over to the prosecutor and judicial authorities. The news of the journalists' arrests comes as it was also reported on Sunday that over a thousand government employees were arrested and dismissed on charges of collaborating with coup plotters. Since the failed coup against him in July, Erdoğan's government has dismissed over ten thousand civil servants and arrested more than 35 thousand individuals in various judicial, military, security, governmental, and police sectors. Last week, news also emerged of the arrest of two mayors in Kurdish regions of Diyarbakır, which led to protests in those areas and in Istanbul. On Sunday, at least 15 local newspapers in Kurdish regions of Turkey were also shut down. While the Turkish prosecutor issues arrest warrants for Cumhuriyet journalists, this newspaper received the Alternative Nobel Prize about two months ago in September. The statement regarding this award noted that it was given to Cumhuriyet 'for defending freedom of expression at a time when it is more threatened than ever in Turkey and showing that the voice of freedom-seeking cannot be silenced.'