Turkish opposition paper vows 'will not
surrender' after staff detained
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[November 01, 2016]
By Daren Butler and Humeyra Pamuk
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's secularist
Cumhuriyet newspaper vowed "we will not surrender" in a front-page
headline on Tuesday, a day after its editor and a dozen top staff were
detained on accusations of supporting a failed July coup.
Dozens of people staged a vigil in protest at the arrests in front of
the newspaper's Istanbul offices overnight, some wrapped in blankets as
they slept on benches while police guarded barriers outside.
The European Union and United States condemned the move against
Cumhuriyet, a pillar of the country's secularist establishment. The
government of Turkey, a NATO member which aspires to join the EU, has so
far declined comment other than to say it is a legal issue.
Prosecutors accuse staff at the paper, one of few media outlets still
critical of President Tayyip Erdogan, of committing crimes on behalf of
Kurdish militants and the network of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based
cleric.
The authorities blame Gulen for orchestrating the July 15 coup attempt
in which rogue soldiers tried to seize power, killing more than 240
people. Gulen, in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999,
denies involvement.
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In a subsequent crackdown, more than 110,000 people have been sacked or
suspended and 37,000 jailed pending trial, drawing criticism from
Western allies and rights groups who fear Erdogan is using the coup
attempt to crush dissent.
"Even if Cumhuriyet's executives and writers are detained, our newspaper
will continue its fight for democracy and freedom to the end," it said
in a defiant editorial which described the arrests as the start of an
attempt to close the paper.
State-run Anadolu agency said the investigation included allegations
that Cumhuriyet acted in line with the goals of Gulen's network,
publishing stories which aimed to create chaos and make the country
impossible to rule.
But Cumhuriyet said its pages had repeatedly warned that Gulen's
movement represented a danger to the Republic and wanted to abolish
secularism. The paper said it had in the past been targeted by
prosecutors and judges aligned with Gulen.
NO ACCESS TO LAWYERS
The latest detainee on Monday evening was veteran Turkish journalist
Kadri Gursel, who began writing for Cumhuriyet in May, bringing the
number of those held to 13, the paper said. Three more staff targeted by
the investigation are abroad.
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![](../images/110116pics/news_u33.jpg)
Carnations and today's copies are seen in the newsroom of Cumhuriyet
newspaper, an opposition secularist daily, in Istanbul, Turkey,
November 1, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
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It said the detainees, whose computers and mobile phones were
confiscated, were not being allowed to speak to their lawyers under
emergency rule, imposed after the putsch, which allows authorities
to block access to lawyers for five days.
The staunchly secularist paper was established in 1924 by a
confidant of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk just six months after he
established the Turkish Republic.
Political violence has dogged its history. Seven of its writers have
been assassinated since 1978 and some were among those jailed after
coups in 1971 and 1980.
Cumhuriyet's previous editor, Can Dundar, was jailed last year,
convicted of publishing state secrets involving Turkey's support for
Syrian rebels. The case sparked censure from rights groups and
Western governments worried about worsening human rights in Turkey
under Erdogan.
Anadolu said the latest probe included allegations that Dundar met
with Gulenist prosecutors following corruption scandals targeting
Erdogan's inner circle in late 2013 and subsequently published
stories based on Gulenist claims.
Journalists at the paper were accused of seeking to precipitate the
coup through "subliminal messages" in their columns before it
happened, Anadolu reported.
Since the attempted coup, 170 newspapers, magazines, television
stations and news agencies have been shut down, leaving 2,500
journalists unemployed, Turkey's journalists' association said in a
statement on Monday.
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(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Daren Butler;
Editing by Nick Tattersall and Anna Willard)
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