Journalists tried in fresh wave of KCK case today

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Prominent publisher Ragıp Zarakolu is on his way to visit his son Deniz Zarakolu, who has been under arrest for about a year as part of the same case in Silivri Prison.

As an Istanbul court starts hearing the third indictment in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case today in which 44 suspects, including a number of journalists, are being tried, many are complaining about the decreasing public interest in the case.

Some 44 suspects, 36 of them arrested pending trial, are currently facing charges in the 800-page indictment that was unanimously accepted by the court in May 2012. The suspects are charged with leading a terrorist organization, being a member of a terrorist organization, and being a member of the press committee of a terrorist organization. The suspects include daily Vatan reporter Çağdaş Ulus and daily Birgün reporter Zeynep Kuray.

Publisher, author and human rights activist Ragıp Zarakolu, who was released pending trial within the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case in April, has complained about the decreasing public interest in the case, after the release of the most prominent figures.

Visit to Silivri prison
On Sept. 5, Ragıp Zarakolu visited his son Deniz Zarakolu, who has been under arrest for about a year as part of the same case, in Silivri No: 2 F-type prison. After their meeting, which lasted for two hours, Ragıp Zarakolu spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News. He stated that he had been arrested for a speech he made at a conference four years ago, while his son was arrested due to courses he had given at the Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) politics academy.

“I am not a militant and did not raise my son as a militant. My son was giving courses to a legal party that was supposed to be under the safeguard of the Republic of Turkey. If this party is illegal, then I would like to ask if the state laid a trap for us.” Zarakolu said, adding that after he and Prof. Büşra Ersanlı were released, public interest in the case began to wane.

“I feel like I was used. I think my arrest was a conspiracy. The state just wanted to give the impression that it had accepted its mistakes. This hurts me,” Zarakolu said.

Ragıp Zarakolu and 14 others were released on April 10 due to their time spent incarcerated since arrest and the state of the evidence. Professor Büşra Ersanlı and 15 other suspects in the KCK case were also released on July 13.Zarakolu said he had ended his protest of silence, which he had begun after his release on April 10, for his son.

Meanwhile, one of the lawyers in the case, Davut Erkan, said the indictment had no legal basis and that the journalists were being charged for reporting the stories of Kurdish people, daily Evrensel reported yesterday.