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In another jab to stifle the media, a Turkish court ruled Wednesday to arrest 15 Cumhuriyet, the opposition newspaper staff on terrorism charges, Reuters reported.
But the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet said Thursday that the newspaper will not bow to the government crackdown, and won't abandon journalism, a day after the court's sentence.
The paper's chairman, Akin Atalay, has already been in jail for more than 500 days. But other members of the paper's staff have been gradually released during the trial. The journalists belonging to the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper were arrested during the crackdown that ensued a failed coup in July 2016. Three of them were acquitted. Those convicted remain free while an appeal is pending.
Cumhuriyet newspaper is one of the oldest Turkish dailies and was established in 1924 by Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu, a journalist, and a confidant of the Turkish Republic's founder Mustafa kemal Atatürk. The newspaper has maintained an independent voice, often reporting critically about Turkey, drawing wrath from Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kadri Gursel, a veteran journalist and columnist released last year after 11 months in jail, told the court that "journalism has been put on trial."
"We will walk away from here with our heads high and continue to do journalism no matter how hard it is to do so in an environment deprived of law and democracy."
"I demand acquittal for myself and my colleagues," Gursel added, France 24 reported.
Murat Sabuncu was one of 14 Cumhuriyet staff who were given sentences ranging from two and a half to seven and a half years on charges for supporting the network of a U.S.-based cleric Ankara blamed for the attempted coup in 2016.
"As journalists, we will continue to do our tasks, to put up a fight, we will continue to write the truth,” Sabuncu told supporters at a rally outside the Istanbul courthouse where the early parts of his trial took place, according to Reuters.
Sabuncu and Ahmet Sik, a prominent journalist and author, received the stiffest sentences. “The 7-1/2 year sentence has no meaning for me,” Sabuncu said.
Turkish authorities have accused Cumhuriyet's staff of supporting groups it has labeled terror organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), ultra-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, and the cleric Fetullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of masterminding the failed coup, BBC reported.
More than 120 journalists have been detained and more than 180 media outlets have been closed down under the state of emergency, according to the human rights group Amnesty International.
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