Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Date: October 22, 2020

Available in: 🇹🇷  Türkçe

The first hearing of the case initiated against former Cumhuriyet reporter Alican Uludağ and responsible editor in chief of the newspaper was held today. Alican Uludağ, the reporter who wrote the article, and Olcay Büyüktaş, the newspaper's managing editor responsible for legal affairs, have been charged with "disclosing the identity of an informant" according to Article 6/3 of the Anti-Terror Law and are facing up to three years in prison.

According to the report published on November 22, 2019, on the newspaper's front page, the police in the southeastern Antep province did not act despite receiving a tip on two ISIS members who were involved in the attack in Ankara Railway Station which murdered 103 peace activists.

In October 10, 2020 A suicide attack was launched against the Peace Rally in Ulus, Altındağ in the capital city of Ankara at around 10.04 a.m. on October 10, 2015.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism would like to pay respects to the peace rally participants who lost their lives in the massacre: Abdülkadir Uyan, Metin Kürklü, Gökhan Akman, Orhan Işıktaş, Gülhan Karlı Elmascan, Yılmaz Elmascan, Nevzat Sayan, Bilgen Parlak, Hacı Kıvrak, Rıdvan Akgül, Rıdvan Akgül, Hacı Mehmet Şah Esin, Gökmen Dalmaç, Elif Kanlıoğlu, Hakan Dursun Akalın, Ercan Adsız, Ayşe Deniz, Berna Koç, Fatma Esen, Gülbahar Aydeniz, Eren Akın, Canberk Bakış, Tayfun Benol, Nizamettin Bağcı, Kasım Otur, Başak Sidar Çevik, Nilgün Çevik, Resul Yanar, Mehmet Ali Kılıç, Tekin Arslan, Sezen Vurmaz, Dilaver Karharman, Onur Tan, Umut Tan, Sarıgül Tüylü, Dilan Sarıkaya, Ali Kitapçı, İsmail Kızılçay, Muhammet Demir, Korkmaz Tedik, Veysel Atılgan, İbrahim Atılgan, Emine Ercan, Kübra Meltem Mollaoğlu, Meryem Bulut, Seyhan Yaylagül, Ebru Mavi, Ali Deniz Uzatmaz, Ziya Saygın, Vahdettin Özgan, Cemal Avşar, Ahmet Katurlu, Selim Örs, Azize Onat, Dicle Deli, Güney Doğan, Binali Korkmaz, Mehmet Zakir Karabulut, Leyla Çiçek, Metin Peşman, Mesut Mak, Adil Gür, Gökhan Gökbönü, Şebnem Yurtman, Osman Turan Bozacı, İdil Güneyi, Abdullah Erol, Mehmet Hayta, Özver Gökhan Arpaçay, Şirin Kılıçalp, Uygar Coşgun, Ahmed Alkhadi, Nurullah Erdoğan, Gözde Arslan, Aycan Kaya, Yunus Delice, Sevgi Öztekin, Mehmet Tevfik Dalgıç, Sevim Şinik, Emin Aydemir, Fatma Karabulut, Ramazan Tunç, Erol Ekici, Feyyat Deniz, Necla Duran, Osman Ervasa, Ramazan Çalışkan, Vedat Erkan, Abdülbari Şenci, Niyazi Büyüksütçü, Gazi Güray, Sabri Elmas, Erhan Avcı, Ümit Seylan, Serdar Ben, Nevzat Özbilgi, Hasan Baykara, Fatma Batur, Bedriye Batur, Ata Önder Atabay, Mustafa Budak, Ağa Bayar.

The news report by Alican Uludağ said that a fertilizer seller in Nizip, Antep, notified the police about two people who came to his shop to buy ammonium nitrate, a substance used in improvised explosive devices, just 11 days before the attack. The police did not round up the two people despite knowing their names and they were involved in the bomb attack, according to the report.

In the indictment, Uludağ, who prepared the report, was charged with "disclosing or publishing the identity of those who denounced crimes and criminals" in Article 6/3 of the Anti-Terror Law.

On the other hand, Olcay Büyüktaş Akça did not participate in the commission of the crime allegedly committed by Uludağ within the scope of Article 6/4 of the Anti-Terror Law; however since she was the managing editor in charge, she is asked to be fined from one thousand to five thousand days. Olcay was also requested to “be deprived of certain rights” regulated in Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code.

During today’s hearing Alican Uludağ and Olcay Büyüktaş Akça rejected the claims and highlighted that they were doing their jobs in informing the public on the most heinous terrorist attack in the history of the country. The court decided to request a copy of the informant’s testimony from Nizip Police Dept and granted defense lawyers time to prepare defense statements. Next hearing of the trial will be held on January 12, 2021.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism congratulates the firm stance of Olcay Büyüktaş Akça and her colleague Alican Uludağ in performing their jobs to bring light to the massacre which should be mourned by all members of the society. We ask the authorities to drop charges against the journalists and instead focus on bringing justice to victims of the Ankara Massacre.

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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org

The Coalition For Women In Journalism closely monitors the incidents in Turkey with great concern. Since March 8, Women's Day, police violence against women journalists increasingly continues in the country. As the coalition, we urge the Turkish state to provide a free environment for journalists. Following the news is our most fundamental democratic right to report. We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues. Journalism is not a crime. Journalism cannot be prevented.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.