CHP Istanbul Deputy Barış Yarkadaş stated that the police units have prepared files for 15 thousand people who use social media, and trying to confirm 45 thousand more individuals’ personal addresses.
CHP Istanbul Deputy and Media Commission Member Yarkadaş, while addressing the GNAT general assembly, said “Around 150 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey… 2016 is a dark year for Turkish media.” Yarkadaş, showing the media report he has prepared for the year 2016 to the general assembly stated “Last year, the press cards for 800 journalists have been cancelled. 173 media outlets have been shut down.”
‘What are their faults?’
Yarkadaş reminded that bills of indictment haven’t been prepared for most of the journalists in custody and argued “We are wondering, what are our journalist friends being accused of, for what offense are they still being held in custody. It’s not only us who are trying to get an answer to these questions, it’s their parents, their lawyers and themselves as well.”
Yarkadaş pointed out that Cumhuriyet Newspaper Writers Akın Atalay and his friends and also Ahmet Şık have been accused over the things they shared on social media and added “A tweet can NOT become a reason for someone’s arrest.”
FETO contradiction
Yarkadaş has explained the contradiction in Cumhuriyet Newspaper Correspondent Şık’s arrest by saying:
“Ahmet Şık, was sent to prison within the Oda TV trial because of FETO’s plot. Although he has become victimized by FETO, he is now being accused of being a member of FETO. Ahmet Şık, after he was put in prison, was denied water for 3 days straight, for 3 days he wasn’t allowed to read newspapers or watch television.”
“Don’t be afraid of being criticized”
Yarkadaş drew attention to the fact that media being able to act freely during the 15 July period was one of the factors that prevented a possible coup and said:
“We have realized once again with the vile coup attempt on July 15th that freedom of media is a must for everyone. If that night, the Turkish media didn’t spread the news freely as it did, today Turkey could’ve been being run by FETO’s putschists, God forbid. Therefore, it is necessary to not take offense for everything thats being written in the media, it is necessary to make use of constructive criticism.”
‘There is a witch hunt going on in social media’
Yarkadaş drew attention to the fact that lately the government increased its’ suppression on social media and added “There is simply a witch hunt going on.” CHP’s Yarkadaş argued that a “Social Media Tracing Unit” has been established and said “With the efforts of this unit, people are getting arrested for things that do NOT constitute a crime according to the Turkish Penal Code.”
Yarkadaş continued:
“Even though there isn’t a law that suggests people who “insult statesmen” should be arrested, just a couple of days ago many individuals were arrested for allegedly insulting statesmen. This group of people includes individuals who made comments regarding Numan Kurtulmuş. From time to time we have conversations with Honorable Numan Kurtulmuş and inform him of these problems. I am wishing that courts will soon abandon this new workload and the unlawful arrests of such individuals would come to an end.”
‘On what basis were they established?’
Yarkadaş argued that how this ‘Social Media Tracing Unit’ has been established is a question mark, and pointed out that it is impossible to say on what law’s or regulation’s basis this unit was put together. He said “How are they paying these people? Turkish police, instead of chasing down terrorists and bombardiers and locking them up, are wasting their time surfing through the social media to see who ‘tweeted’ what.”
Yarkadaş reminded that Halk TV producer Hüsnü Mahalli has also been arrested over his tweets and added “There are no insults in the comments he shared but only political criticism.”
‘Arbitrariness have turned into cruelty’
Yarkadaş stated that ETHA, Dİ-HABER and Birgün Newspaper’s employees are being held in custody for the past 9 days beyond all question and said “There are allegations that they helped out Redhack. The judge will decide whether they’ve helped them out and if this constitutes a crime. Yes, the judge should decide, and the prosecutor should carry out this investigation, that is what we want indeed but the prosecutor is no where to be found.”
Yarkadaş stated that the prosecutor who filed arrests for the journalists have decided to take his annual leave and is away. He said “The journalists in custody have waited for the prosecutor to come back from his annual leave for days… Mister prosecutor will come back from his annual leave after he enjoys his time. What if he lets them go, what if he wouldn’t even file a claim.” Yarkadaş said “We have to see that this has surpassed arbitrariness, this is cruelty.”
‘The primitiveness should come to an end’
Yarkadaş identified the government’s approach to social media as “primitive”, and used the words “Come and we shall put an end to this primitiveness all together.”
’60 thousand people are being traced’
On the other hand, GNAT Security and Intelligence Commission member Barış Yarkadaş have made comments regarding this issue over Twitter and said “The police officers who are being tasked in the Social Media Tracing Unit have filed records on 17 thousand accounts. They are trying to identify the names and addresses for another 45 thousand. 3500 people have been taken into custody over the things they shared online. Another 1500 were arrested over the things they wrote.”
“This frightening reality, is an indicator to the increasing oppression before the referendum” said Yarkadaş.
