NEWS CENTER - Journalist Merdan Yanardağ, who was arrested for his words about the Imrali isolation, said: "How can it be a crime to demand that the state's law of execution be applied fairly to everyone?"
The first hearing of the case against TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, who was detained and arrested on June 27 after criticizing the absolute isolation imposed upon PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, will be held at the Istanbul 30th High Criminal Court on October 4. Yanardağ, who is imprisoned in Istanbul Silivri Prison, answered the questions of the Republic. Yanardağ said: "How can it be a crime to demand that the state's law of execution be applied fairly to everyone?"
Yanardağ stated the following about his arrest: "I stated that the government is constantly trying to use Imrali as a political tool, and I said that Öcalan should be allowed to meet with his lawyers and relatives, in accordance with the execution law, by solving the isolation problem, which is also discussed in politics. The apocalypse was over. How can it be a crime to demand that the state's law of execution be applied fairly to everyone? It's complete bullshit. However, it is obvious that I both broke a de facto and silent agreement on this issue, and I took or tried to take the Imrali weapon, which it used when needed, from the hands of the government. Because ‘you should stop threatening the public over Imrali and making adjustments. I said, 'Let him meet with his family and lawyers, and let the public know what he is saying'. That's the problem.
THE PRESS WAS INTIMIDATED
Another reason for my arrest was to intimidate the independent and opposition media, forcing them to retreat and to intimidate the public by instilling fear. It is an attempt to neutralize the great potential of the opposition that emerged in the elections but was devalued by the deep-seated discussion of 'change' into which the opposition was dragged. My arrest is the first political consequence of losing the elections.
CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATION
There is no crime that warrants arrest. We see this clearly in the indictment. In the program where the reason for the arrest was made, I criticized the AKP government's approach to the Kurdish issue by discussing it. In a sense, I was accused of the subject I criticized and was arrested. It's literally a legal comedy. There is a grave violation of the freedom of thought and expression and the current Constitution.”