On the second day of Eid al-Fitr, BirGün reporter İsmail Arı was detained during a family visit in Turhal, a district in Turkey’s Tokat province, and brought to Ankara, where he was arrested on the charge of “publicly spreading misleading information.”
Journalist İsmail Arı was a reporter for the BirGün newspaper who covered corruption and profiteering stories; due to these reports, he had repeatedly given statements to prosecutors. Arı’s arrest drew reactions from a broad segment of society, especially journalism professional organizations.
BirGün Newspaper Publishing Coordinator İbrahim Varlı reacted to Arı’s arrest by appearing on the program “Çetele with Onur Öncü,” broadcast on the MLSA YouTube channel. Stating that Arı had long been under judicial pressure and was arrested to prevent him from reporting, Varlı said, “They arrested İsmail so that he would not report from now on. So that he would not produce new corruption and profiteering stories…”
Emphasizing that the arrest of journalists is a message to society, Varlı said, “Through İsmail, they are sending a message to society. They want to spread fear in society.” Varlı also said that İsmail had received death threats many times because of his reporting.
İbrahim Varlı said, “Because İsmail had received death threats, he had been under protection by two police officers for 8 months. He was under police protection. He was giving statements almost every week due to his reporting. Our colleague, who was under state protection, was detained during a visit to his family in Tokat and was arrested.”
You can watch the full program on the MLSA TV YouTube channel.
