MLSA - The investigation against Tuncay Özdamar, the Turkish director of WDR Cosmo, for allegedly "targeting people involved in the fight against terrorism", which led to his detention at the airport in Ankara and his detention for 14 days, has been declared non-prosecution. The German-language tweets, translated by Özdamar's lawyer MLSA Co-Director Veysel Ok and submitted to the prosecutor's office, stated that Özdamar had not targeted Judge Murat Erten, contrary to police claims.
Özdamar was detained at Ankara Esenboğa airport at 01.30 midnight on September 30, 2023, when he arrived in Turkey to visit his ailing mother. After being held in airport custody for 14 hours, Özdamar was released after his statement was taken by the Prosecutor on Duty at the Ankara Courthouse.
With his detention, it was revealed that an investigation had been opened against Özdamar. According to the investigation file, 'virtual patrol' police officers combined the names of journalists Murat Sabuncu and Bağış Erten, who were mentioned in German-language tweets Özdamar wrote in 2018, and made them 'Murat Erten'; the police officers claimed that Özdamar had "targeted" judge Murat Erten with a tweet he did not send. The prosecutor's office, which did not translate Özdamar's accused German tweets into Turkish, accepted the police claim as true and opened an investigation against Özdamar on charges of "targeting people who took part in the fight against terrorism" under Article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK).
Özdamar's lawyer, MLSA Co-Director Veysel Ok, submitted to the prosecutor's office an expert report translating Özdamar's two German tweets into Turkish. The Prosecutor of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Terror and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau decided not to prosecute Özdamar, stating that it was understood that Özdamar did not target people who took part in the fight against terrorism.
In one of the tweets, Özdamar wrote: "Journalists who left Cumhuriyet: Murat Sabuncu, Çiğdem Toker, Aydın Engin, Hakan Kara, Çiğdem Toker, Musa Kart, Melis Alphan, Barbaros Şansal, Ahmet Tulgar, Güray Öz, Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Tayfun Atay, Bağış Erten, Mirgün Cabas, Zeynep Miraç, Erdem Gül, Ahmet İnsel". Özdamar's other tweet included in the file is as follows: "Turkish newspaper #Cumhuriyet is considered one of the last bastions of press freedom in #Turkey. After a change of management, columnists and editors resign one by one. Or their jobs are being terminated. The new administration is accused of being close to the state and Erdoğan."
