EYLEM SONBAHAR
Constitutional Court Member İrfan Fidan has lodged a complaint against journalists Furkan Karabay and Faruk Eren over a news article published in Gerçek Gündem. The charges leveled against them include "targeting individuals involved in counterterrorism efforts," carrying a potential prison sentence of up to three years.
The Special Investigation Bureau of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has concluded its inquiry into Furkan Karabay, a reporter for the news website Gerçek Gündem, and Faruk Eren, the managing editor. The indictment cites Karabay's news report on Fidan and his social media posts as "evidence of a criminal offense."
In their defense, the journalists denied the charges, contending that "the posts neither constituted insults nor defamation, nor did they single out individuals," asserting that "the content was firmly grounded in verifiable facts, not assumptions," and emphasizing "a significant public interest in the posts" while asserting that "they fell well within the ambit of freedom of expression."
The prosecutor, who recently filed a separate indictment against Karabay on unrelated charges, alleged that Faruk Eren and Karabay had exploited "professional privileges" to their advantage.
The indictment calls for a potential prison term of one to three years for Furkan Karabay and Faruk Eren, predicated on charges of "targeting individuals involved in counterterrorism efforts" as stipulated in Article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law. The Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court has accepted the indictment and is anticipated to schedule the initial hearing.
