Turkey: No relief For Journalist Çiğdem Toker As The Hearing Was Adjourned For the Seventh Time
Location: Turkey, İstanbul
Date: February 1, 2022Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
The seventh hearing of the trial against Sözcü columnist Çiğdem Toker was held in İstanbul today. After hearing the statement of an official from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the court adjourned the hearing, giving the parties time to prepare their defense. The next hearing will be held on March 31, 2022. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) condemns the prolonged trials used as a new tactic to intimidate journalists. Journalists are being punished for reporting the facts. We demand the court to dismiss all charges and acquit Çiğdem immediately. Journalism is not a crime.
The lawsuit was in retaliation to Çiğdem’s article in Sözcü Newspaper titled "Service to the Foundation from the İstanbul Municipality’s report", which revealed budgetary reports of the Istanbul Municipality. Following the publication of the article, on February 12th, 2019, T3 Foundation’s lawyers Abdullah Demircan and Serkan Kaya submitted a petition of complaint to İstanbul Küçükçekmece Civil Court of First Instance asking for a claim for their damages. The petition also remarked, “It is necessary to question the patriotism of the journalist who penned this article and the editors who published her article.”
According to Çiğdem’s article, in the said report, the municipality provided a balance sheet of its cash and in-kind support up until the year 2018 to NGOs known to be close to the government and some of which are managed by the President’s relatives. Çiğdem Toker is being sued for 80 thousand Turkish Lira in compensation.
According to the Media and Legal Studies Association (MLSA), lawyer Fahri Emeksiz represented the journalist at the court today. At the hearing, the spokesperson of İstanbul’s Metropolitan Municipality Assembly and the Republican People's Party (CHP) group, Tarık Balyalı, stated a witness of the case. The plaintiff's lawyer objected to the participation of CHP group spokesperson Tarık Balyalı, who testified in favor of the journalist. The plaintiff's lawyer claimed that his client had previously had enmity with the witness, and alleged that the witness might be a suspect of making false statements.
Balyalı said he knows Çiğdem Toker as a journalist and added that she applied for a confirmation of the reports that were the subject of the article. Balyalı stated that as a result of the investigation, the reports and the information investigated matched. He said Çiğdem wrote the coverage after having been confirmed by the municipality officials. The report was prepared for the senior managers. Stating that the former administration of İstanbul’s municipality reported that there was no such report, however, Balyalı said, “There was no direct money transfer but there were expenditures made by the agreements made between these foundations and the municipality,” he said.
Following the witness’ statement, the journalist’s lawyer, Fahri Emeksiz took the floor and requested from the court to give additional time to the defense.
Announcing its interim decision, the court decided to give the parties additional time to prepare their defenses against witness statements. The next hearing will be held on March 31, 2022.
The CFWIJ considers the defamation cases brought against journalists a despicable means to intimidate the press. Journalists are obliged to inform the public and therefore, cannot be prosecuted. We demand the authorities retract from the attempts to silence journalists through the judiciary. Çiğdem Toker is a journalist. We demand the dismissal of all groundless charges against her and the acquittal of the journalist.
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.
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