An investigation was launched against Tuncay Özdamar, the director of the WDR Cosmo Turkish media outlet WDR Cosmo, who landed at Esenboğa Airport in Ankara on September 30, 2023 to visit his family in Germany and was held in airport custody for 14 hours and released after his statement was taken by the prosecutor on duty, on the allegation of “targeting people who took part in the fight against terrorism” (TMK 6/1). The investigation ended in non-prosecution in December. According to MLSA, the investigation is based on the suspicion that Özdamar “targeted” judge Murat Erten by combining the names of journalists Murat Sabuncu and Bağış Erten, who were mentioned in German-language tweets Özdamar wrote in 2018, and reconstructing them as “Murat Erten” (November 29).
The court decided to send a writ to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to request the finalization annotation of the non-prosecution decision issued against Özdamar and the documents regarding his arrest and detention. The trial was adjourned until 18 October 2024 (September 20th).