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Reuters
On Monday, a Turkish court sentenced four employees of a now-defunct pro-Kurdish newspaper who were convicted of terrorism-related charges.
The newspaper “Ozgur Gundem” is one of more than 130 media outlets shut down by the government during the state of emergency that was declared after the failed pullback attempt in 2016 as part of a campaign whose expansion has worried Ankara’s Western allies and human rights organizations.
Turkish authorities arrested about 24 employees of “Ozgor Gundem” in 2016 as part of an investigation into the newspaper’s alleged links to Kurdish separatists.
At that time, the newspaper’s court was closed on the grounds that it was spreading propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers ’Party, which the United States and the European Union, in addition to Turkey, classify as a terrorist organization.
Lawyer Özgan Kilic said that the verdict was sentenced to imprisonment of the human rights activist and the rotating editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Irene Keskin, and two other employees of the newspaper, to prison terms of 6 years and three months each for their membership in a terrorist organization.
He added that Zana Belair Kaya, the other alternate editor-in-chief, was sentenced to two years and one month in prison for spreading terrorist propaganda.
Kilic also told “Reuters” that he believes the ruling is political and that it is harsher than the rulings issued in similar cases, adding that he will appeal the ruling.
The newspaper “Ozgur Gundim” focused its coverage on the activity of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, which is predominantly Kurdish, and has faced for a long time investigations, fines and arrests.
Source: Reuters
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