Eylem Sonbahar
An Istanbul court has sentenced journalists Hüseyin Aykol and Zana Bilir Kaya, along with former managing editor İnan Kızılkaya of the now-shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper, to prison over several news stories published in 2016. The court found them guilty of “insulting the Republic of Turkey and the state’s security and military forces.”
The 30th hearing of the trial was held at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The case also involved Kurdish politician Hatip Dicle, though the court ruled to acquit him in one case and separate his file in another.
The prison sentences handed down included 1 year and 3 months for Aykol and Kızılkaya in connection with five merged case files, and 10 months for Kızılkaya and Kaya in another merged case. All were convicted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes insulting Turkey, the Turkish nation, or state institutions—a controversial law that has long drawn criticism from international press freedom advocates.
Özgür Gündem, a pro-Kurdish daily newspaper, was shut down by emergency decree in 2016 following the failed coup attempt in Turkey. The paper had long been targeted by Turkish authorities over its reporting on the Kurdish issue and the conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
During the hearing, the prosecutor repeated his final opinion from March 13 and requested the separation of Dicle’s case and the sentencing of the other defendants. The journalists’ lawyer, Sercan Korkmaz, argued that the news stories in question should be considered within the scope of press freedom. “We believe the statute of limitations applies as of the alleged offense date. We request acquittal. If the court decides otherwise, we ask for the statute of limitations and provisions favorable to the defendants to be taken into account,” he said.
The case centered on several reports published in Özgür Gündem in the spring and summer of 2016. Articles cited in the indictment included:
- “Special Forces Shot Each Other,” published on April 5, 2016 (Page 10)
- “Give Oil, Get Ammo” and “Take the Oil, Sell the Guns, Kill the Journalist,” from the August 12, 2016 issue (Pages 1 and 12)
- “PÖH Funerals in a Slaughterhouse” and “The Dead Are Hidden, Funerals in a Slaughterhouse,” published on April 3, 2016 (Pages 1 and 9)
- “Genocide Basement,” “Hungry, Thirsty Under Bombs,” and “If the Psychology of Psychological Warfare Breaks Down,” in the April 24, 2016 edition (Pages 1, 8 and 12)
- “Massacre by Turkish Armed Forces in Shehba” and “Torture at the Funeral Reaches Level of Brutality,” from April 15, 2016 (Page 1)
- “Mongol Attack” on April 1, 2016 (Page 1), and “We Will Repel the Attack” (Page 8)
- “Two HPG Members Executed in Gimgim” (Page 5), “Photo of Massacre” (Page 9), and “They Killed, Posed, and Dragged” from April 13, 2016
The trial is part of a broader crackdown on critical media in Turkey, particularly in the wake of the 2016 coup attempt. The country remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to press freedom watchdogs. Human rights groups and the Council of Europe have repeatedly called on Ankara to repeal or reform Article 301, which they argue is used to stifle dissent.
