MEDIA MONITORING DATABASE
The owner of daily Bizim Antalya Olgun Matur is standing trial on the charges of “membership in a terrorist organisation [FETÖ]”
RELATED PERSON OR INSTITUTION
Olgun Matur
CITY
Antalya
YEAR OF INTERFERENCE
2016
LAST UPDATED
21/09/2021
TYPE OF STATEMENT
Political
MEDIUM
Internet
Internet News Portal
THE TITLE OF WHOSE RIGHT IS INTERFERED
The Owner (Person) of the Media Outlet
RIGHTS GUARANTEED UNDER THE RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Right to Impart Information and Ideas
TYPE OF INTERFERENCE
Judicial Interference
Criminal Courts
Sentence to imprisonment
THE LEGAL GROUNDS FOR INTERFERENCE
Turkish Penal Code
Art. 314/2

The owner of daily Bizim Antalya Olgun Matur and eight other journalists taken into custody in Antalya. On July 27, 2016, Antalya 2nd High Criminal Court detrial on charges of propagandising for a terrorist  [FETÖ/PDY] organisation.

The court released former Zaman newspaper reporters Tuncer Çetinkaya, Kenan Baş, and Ömer Özdemir; former Cihan News Agency and Zaman reporter Cihat Ünal; former Cihan News Agency reporter Serhat Şeftali; and Olgun Matur, owner of the news website Bizim Antalya. A local politician and his son were also released pending trial. All those released are on probation and are banned from foreign travel until their trial concludes.  The court on April 24 sentenced Tuncer Çetinkaya, the former Antalya regional representative for the shuttered Zaman newspaper, to 7.5 years in prison for “membership in a terrorist organization.”

At the hearing held on 1 September 2018, the court prosecutor requested a prison sentence of up to 15 years for the defendants for on the charges of membership in a terrorist organisation [FETÖ]. The proceeding was continued on 12 March 2019.

At the trial held on September 25, the court ruled to send the case file to the prosecutor for the final opinion; trial adjourned until 12 January (25 September).

At the eighth hearing held on January 12, 2021, the prosecutor of the hearing pronounced the opinion as to the accusations and demanded the acquittal of eight people including Ali Orhan and Hasan Yavaşlar and the penalization of seven journalists on charge of “membership in a terrorist organization”. The court board has adjourned the hearing so that the defendants can prepare their statements of defense as to the accusations. The next hearing will be held on May 4 (January 12).

At the hearing held on September 21, 2021, journalists Cihan Ünal and Ömer Özdemir were sentenced to 6 years, 3 months in prison and Olgun Matur was sentenced to 3 years, 1 month, 15 days in prison. Adem Akyürek, Ali Orhan, Onur Fazıl Soydal, Kenan Baş and Özkan Mayda were acquitted of all offenses charged (September 21).