The recent arrest of Cumhuriyet daily web editor Oğuz Güven brings the number of Cumhuriyet staff currently jailed pending trial to 13. Güven was arrested on 12 May 2017 and charged under Article 220/6 of the Penal Code ‘committing a crime in the name of a terrorist organisation’ after publishing an online report on the death of a public prosecutor. He faces up to 7.5 years in prison if convicted.
The trial hearing of Güven’s Cumhuriyet colleagues has been scheduled for 24 July 2017. The detained staff are currently being held with terror charges on pre-trial detention in Silivri F Type Prison in İstanbul, where they are not allowed to receive books or send letters. For more information about the crackdown on Cumhuriyet please refer to PEN International’s latest call to action.
PEN calls on the Turkish authorities to urgently and unconditionally release Oğuz Güven and the other detained Cumhuriyet staff as they are being held solely in connection with their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression.
For further background information, please visit the PEN International website.
TAKE ACTION
Spread the word
Share details of Oğuz Güven’s detention and the upcoming Cumhuriyet hearing on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. #FreeTurkeyMedia
Send a message of support
Please consider sending letters or postcards in a show of support and solidarity to Cumhuriyet daily addressed to all or any of the detained journalists who are being kept in Silivri F Type Prison and are not being allowed letters or postcards:
Prof. Nurettin Mazhar Öktel Sok. No: 2
34381 Şişli / İstanbul
Tel: (+90 212) 343 72 74
Fax: (+90 212) 343 72 64
E-mail: [email protected]
Send appeals to the Turkish authorities:
Please send appeals:
- Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all Cumhuriyet staff as they are being held solely in connection with their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression;
- Urging them to end the prosecutions and detention of journalists simply on the basis of the content of their journalism or alleged affiliations;
- Calling on them to end the far-reaching crackdown on freedom of expression that has consistently escalated since the failed coup of July 2016.
Appeals to:
Bekir Bozdağ
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Milli Müdafa Caddesi, 06659 Kızılay-Ankara, Republic of Turkey
Tel: (+90 312) 417 77 70
Fax: (+90 312) 419 3370
E-mail:[email protected]
Twitter: @bybekirbozdag
Süleyman Soylu
Minister of Interior Affairs
Ministry of Interior Affairs
T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı, Bakanlıklar / Ankara, Republic of Turkey
Tel: (+90 312) 422 40 00
E-mail: [email protected]
Binali Yıldırım
Prime Minister
Çankaya Mah. Ziaur Rahman Cad. Çankaya / Ankara
Tel: (+90 312) 403 50 00
Fax: (+90 312) 422 10 00
Copies to:
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Cumhurbaşkanlığı Külliyesi
06560 Beştepe-Ankara
Fax : (+90 312) 525 58 31
Email: [email protected]
Email: receptayyip.Erdoğ[email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RecepTayyipErdoğan
Twitter: @RT_Erdoğan
Please copy your appeals to the Embassy of Turkey in your country. A list of embassies can be found here.
***Please send appeals immediately. Please send us copies of any appeals you send and of any responses you receive. ***