Journalists probed for ‘defaming’ Turkish president

ISTANBUL

CİHAN photo

The number of cases filed against journalists has increased with a criminal investigation launched against daily Zaman editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanlı and a legal case filed against daily Bugün columnist Yavuz Baydar for allegedly defaming President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while a Dutch journalist was detained in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

A case was filed against Baydar for allegedly insulting Erdoğan in two of his articles published on Sept. 14 and Sept. 17, respectively, by daily Bugün. Baydar has been accused of defaming the Turkish president according to Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), daily Hürriyet reported.

In a separate incident, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district launched an investigation into what Dumanlı said during a TV program on private broadcaster Kanaltürk on Sept. 1.

Dumanlı has been charged with one count each of allegedly “defaming the Turkish president” and “threatening the Turkish president.”