Turkey seeks arrest of journalist Can Dündar over 2013 Gezi Park protests

ISTANBUL

Turkish authorities have issued an arrest warrant for journalist Can Dündar as part of an investigation into the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, state-run Anadolu Agency said on Dec. 5.

Prosecutors said Dündar played an active role in the protests and provoked public unrest through social media.

It is not clear how the warrant can be served because Dündar, former editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, fled to Germany after being convicted in 2016 on charges of “leaking state secrets.”

This new warrant is linked to an investigation into Turkish human rights activist Osman Kavala, who has been imprisoned for more than a year.

Investigators accuse Kavala of having financed the Gezi Park protests and being linked to FETÖ, believed to have been behind the 2016 coup attempt.

Hundreds of thousands of people had taken to the streets in 2013 to protest a plan to build a replica of Ottoman barracks in Istanbul’s central Gezi Park, one of the few remaining green spaces in the city, which later turned into nationwide protests against the government.

Dündar is accused of having acted as an agent trying to ramp up tensions and having tried to reinforce the resistance of members of a “terrorist” organization to the security forces.

Responding to news of the warrant, Dündar tweeted that he was proud to have taken part in the protests.

“#HepmizGezideydik We feel proud,” Dündar wrote on his Twitter on Dec. 5, sharing Anadolu Agency’s story about his arrest warrant. The hashtag translates to: “We were all at Gezi.”