Court arrests Turkish journalist Ahmet Şık

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court on Dec. 30 ordered the arrest of prominent journalist Ahmet Şık, one day after he was detained over several tweets and his articles for daily Cumhuriyet.

Earlier in the day, Şık had been referred to Çağlayan courthouse following his proceedings at the police headquarters. 

The prosecutors office had demanded the arrest of Şık claiming that he did not give direct and detailed answers during his interrogation while pointing to the evidence that he made terror propaganda, including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which was blamed on the July 15 failed coup attempt.

The court board later ordered the arrest of Şık on the same charges.

Istanbul prosecutor Fahrettin Kerim Yerli had taken Şık's testimony but the journalist had refused to answer Yerli’s questions, his lawyer Can Atalay had said. 

“You cannot interrogate journalism in this way. The same thing is happening as was happening five years ago,” Şık said, referring to previous bogus investigations led by prosecutors allied to U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, widely believed to have been masterminded the failed coup attempt. 

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu also said that Şık didn’t reply to any of the questions. 

“He was asked about the articles he wrote in 2014 and 2015. His views on them were asked. Also, plenty of questions were asked to him regarding his tweets. Once again, journalism is being tried here today," he said.

Şık and journalist Nedim Şener were jailed as part of the controversial Oda TV case in 2011. Both journalists spent more than a year in prison while awaiting trial before the publication of Şık’s book, titled “The Imam’s Army,” which focused on the organization Gülen’s followers within the police and the judiciary during the time when the movement and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were close. The duo were eventually freed on March 12, 2012.