ANKARA - The prosecutor listed 149 news stories from the Mezopotamya Agency, which was shown as defendants in the indictment, 9 of which were imprisoned within the scope of the Ankara-based investigation, which was prepared 3 and a half months later in the indictment, and included the statements of public and secret witnesses who did not make any statements about the journalists.
The investigation carried out against Mezopotamya Agency (MA) Editor-in-Chief Diren Yurtsever, correspondents Berivan Altan, Ceylan Şahinli, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Emrullah Acar, JINNEWS reporters Habibe Eren and Öznür Değer who was detained by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Zafer Ergün, MA reporter Zemo Ağgöz, who was on trial pending trial, and Mehmet Günhan, who worked as an intern in the Ankara office of MA for a while, has been completed. Nine of the journalists who were detained on October 25, 2022 as part of the investigation were arrested by the court on October 29 and sent to Sincan Prison. While Ağgöz was given a "house arrest" decision, Günhan was released on condition of judicial control. Upon the objection made later, the "house arrest" decision for Ağgöz was lifted and the condition of judicial control was ruled.
INDICTMENT AFTER 3 AND A HALF MONTHS
A large part of the indictment, which was completed after 3 and a half months within the scope of the investigation carried out against the journalists, consisted of 149 news articles published in the Mesopotamia Agency. In addition to the news, the prosecutor showed the testimonies of journalists, the results of the examination of the seized digital materials and the HTS recordings as evidence.
MA AGENCY IS DISPLAYED ON THE DEFENDANT'S LIST
Despite its legal personality, the prosecutor showed the Mesopotamia Agency as the “defendant” and devoted a large part of the 210-page indictment to the news stories published in the agency.
NEWS STORIES ARE CONSIDERED AS EVIDENCE OF MEMBERSHIP
While 12 pages of the indictment include the founding date of the PKK and KCK, KCK Executive Council Co-chair Cemil Bayık, PKK Executive Council member Murat Karayılan and KCK Executive Council member Mustafa Karasu' on the developments regarding PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan in Mezopotamya Agency in March 2018. In the indictment, which includes the statements made by Ms., the news stories in question were considered as evidence of "membership in a terrorist organization".
Following the indictment, the news stories published in MA regarding the statements made by the political party and the prisoners regarding the hunger strike launched by Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-chair Leyla Güven against the Imralı isolation on November 8, 2018 was included. Again, the news that included the evaluations of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's lawyers regarding the ban on lawyers in İmralı Type F Prison since July 27, 2011 was added to the indictment.
THERE IS NO STATEMENT ABOUT JOURNALISTS FROM WITNESSES
In the indictment, Hüseyin Durudeniz, whose statement was taken at the Bursa Provincial Security Directorate Anti-Terror Branch on February 28, 2020, Kerem Gökalp, whose statement was taken by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the anonymous witness with the code name "Ulaş", on April 22, 2020, Mardin Nusaybin Anti-Terrorism Bureau The statements of Müjde Dal, whose statement was taken at the Chief of Police, and Özgür Baran, whose statement was taken at the Anti-Terror Branch of Antalya Police Department on April 14, 2019, regarding the Mesopotamia Agency and JINNEWS were included. The indictment of the prosecutor based on interpretation, who could not find any evidence despite his search, did not include a single statement by open and anonymous witnesses about journalists.
The anonymous witness, codenamed "k8ç4b3l1t5", who made a statement about the journalists one by one, only explained that the journalists worked in MA and JINNEWS and in which city they worked.
THE PROSECUTOR RESEARCHED MA: NEWS WERE COPIES AND PASTED
In the investigation of the Prosecutor's Office on the Mezopotamya Agency, there are news about the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan with its lawyers and politicians, as well as the news stories about the statements made by political parties and non-governmental organizations to protest the chemical weapons attacks of Turkey against Federated Kurdistan Region were copied and pasted into the indictment. In addition, the news including the images of 2 HPG members who were exposed to chemical weapons in the attacks of Turkey against the Federated Kurdistan Region was added to the indictment.
DEDEOĞLULAR MASSACRE NEWS STORIES WERE RANKED
The news stories about the Dedeoğulları family, who were killed as a result of a racist attack in Meram district of Konya, was also the subject of accusation. It was noteworthy that the indictment included the testimonies of the relatives of the murdered family about the incident after the massacre. On the other hand, the news stories about the protest actions and statements about the murder of the Dedeoğulları family were brought to the journalists as accusations.
THE NEWS ABOUT RACIST ATTACKS DISTURBED
On August 2, 2021, the news about the Kurğa family, who was subjected to a racist attack in Antalya's Elmalı district, left the village, was also the subject of the indictment.
Adding the news stories about the racist attacks to the indictment one by one, the prosecutor also considered the news stories about the attack of the racist groups against the Kurds, which started to block the roads at some points after the forest fires on August 1, 2021, in Antalya's Manavgat district, as a crime.
THE SNOWING NEWS!
Another noteworthy news in the indictment was the news about the closure of roads due to snowfall in Van and Hakkari, titled "The roads of 349 settlements in Serhat were closed", published in MA on January 18, 2021. In the indictment, it was stated that "it has been determined that the news in question has been served as a so-called news for the mob audience".
149 NEWS STORIES ATTACHED TO THE INDICTMENT
Most of the indictment is based on 92 isolation against PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, 21 chemical weapons attacks, 19 Dedeoğulları massacre and racist attacks, 16 opinions and evaluations of politicians and human rights defenders regarding the Kurdish Question, and press statements. One of the meetings consisted of the news that the roads were closed due to snowfall.
NO EVIDENCE FOR THE ACCUSATION
Claiming that journalists participated in legal/illegal actions, the prosecution did not provide any evidence regarding the said actions. In the indictment, the funeral ceremonies attended by journalists to make news were also made the subject of accusation. In addition to the lawsuits filed against members of the journalists' families or the existing search warrants, the fact that they are still in contact was also the subject of accusation. The fact that journalist Zemo Ağgöz was in contact with his sister, who had an arrest warrant due to a file and who had taken refuge in France, was also the subject of the indictment.
IT IS A CRIME FOR JOURNALISTS TO DRAW A HALAY.
The fact that journalists danced and sang was also the subject of accusation. Singing and dancing halay at a picnic event attended by journalist Selman Güzelyüz was also shown as a crime; however, no documents or images regarding the accusation were presented.
EVEN HOUSE ADDRESSES HAVE BEEN CRIMINAL
In the indictment, where MA's Ankara Office was also illegalized, it was alleged that the houses where journalists lived were also used "for meeting and shelter purposes". In the indictment, which stated that the journalists had an address record in the MERNIS system, it was commented that "...they changed their addresses in different provinces across the country and they did not register to these addresses in order not to be exposed" without showing any information and documents.
In the indictment, it was revealed that there was a communication interception between February 17, 2021 and September 8, 2021 against journalists.
UNEMPLOYMENT FUND CONSIDERED A CRIME
In the indictment, in which the prosecution statements of the journalists were given wide coverage, the accusations were based only on the statements of secret and public witnesses. Journalists Berivan Altan and Selman Güzelyüz's family members' use of the account card was also the subject of accusation. It was stated in the indictment that there was a money transfer between journalist Habibe Eren and JINNEWS, where she worked, and her relatives, and that she benefited from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. In this part of the indictment, the statement, "He received money from the unemployment insurance fund, despite having a SSI registration at JIN News agency..." drew attention.
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
In the indictment, in which the phone calls between journalist Berivan Altan and his lawyers regarding the isolation imposed on PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan are also included, one of the accusations made against all journalists is to share the news of MA, where they work through their social media accounts. Youtube posts of journalist Emrullah Acar from his social media account and writing a letter to a prisoner were deemed a crime. In the indictment, it was noteworthy that the journalists' cards belonging to the agency they worked for were among the accusations.
MA'S MICROPHONE IS CLAIMED TOO!
The prosecutor's office, which did not provide any evidence regarding the accusations, tried to produce crimes even from the slogans shouted by the MPs carrying the microphone of MA. In the indictment, the indictment states, “... The group in the news contains footage of Abdullah Öcalan's participation in the protest action attended by HDP MPs who wanted to protest the so-called isolation practice, in which he holds the microphone belonging to the Mesopotamia News Agency, and that the group in the news is 'PKK is the people, the people are here, greetings to İmralı, thousand greetings to Zap Avaşin Metina and to Guerrilla'…”.
TRAVELS OF JOURNALISTS ARE IN THE CLAIM
In the indictment, which was written as JINNEWS "Jen News", where the journalists work, even the fact that journalist Öznur Değer travels too much was made the subject of accusations. When Değer went to her house to report on the Syrian refugees who were attacked in Altındağ district of Ankara, the prosecutor commented that "it is understood that she was in the house of a family in order to provoke the Syrians".
THE ONLY EVIDENCE PRESS CARD IN HOME BUILDING
In the indictment, journalist Deniz Nazlım's social media posts regarding the police raid on MA's Van office were also made the subject of accusation. The only evidence obtained in the raid on the house of Nazlım was the correspondent card of the MA he worked for.
SUBLIMINAL PHONE CALLS!
In the indictment, which also draws attention to the statements that journalist Diren Yurtsever followed within the scope of his journalism activities, the fact that Yurtsever had an MA microphone in her hand was presented as evidence. In the indictment, it was commented that Yurtsever made "talks with subliminal messages" in her phone calls with news sources.
THE PROSECUTOR SEARCHED TO JOURNALISTS' SCHOOL YEARS
Continuing his search for evidence, the prosecutor also filed the indictment with the records of the workplaces where journalist Zemo Ağgöz worked while she was a student. Again, during the raid on Ağgöz's house, the book written by the imprisoned writer Bager Sayak, but not yet published, was claimed to belong to PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan in the indictment.
In the indictment, money transfers between the friends and relatives of the journalists and the fees deposited into the bank accounts of the agency they work for were also the subject of accusation.
A TOTAL OF 165 YEARS PRISONMENT DEMANDED TO 11 JOURNALISTS
In the indictment devoid of evidence, the prosecutor, who included the PKK/KCK history three times and the statements of secret and public witnesses not related to journalists twice, claimed that the journalists were "members of an organization". The prosecutor demanded that 11 journalists be sentenced separately from 7 and a half to 15 years in prison.
The indictment was accepted by the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court.
MA / Özgür Paksoy.