With only the photo he took (photo, above) in the course of his journalistic duties as evidence, Turkish journalist Amturahman Gük was tried in Turkey, accused of being a member of a terrorist organization, as well as of the crime of “making propaganda for an illegal organization”.
Without suspension
He was acquitted for the first charge and sentenced for the second to 1.5 years and 22 days in prison and without suspension of execution of the sentence.
“If I had written Libya or Azerbaijan under the photos that were the subject of the charge, would you have put me on trial?” the journalist said in his closing statement to the prosecutor and judges.
“I do not accept the prosecution's claim that I made propaganda because of the photos I shared with the public. I have stated that all these photos are newsworthy, and I took them while working as a war correspondent in conflict zones and they were previously published as news in the agencies I work with as well as in newspapers, websites and TV stations, whether they subscribe to them the agencies or not,” added Amturrahman Gök.
And he continued: “He insists that the prosecution make an assessment, separating it from my journalistic profession. There is no information in my posts other than where and when the photos were taken. So I wonder, if I had written Libya, Al-Bab, Idlib, Latakia, Azerbaijan under these photos, could the prosecution claim that I was doing 'organizational propaganda' with these photos?”
Kemal surrounded by policemen pointing their guns at him
To answer: “I don't think so. I don't know of any journalist who has been prosecuted in this way just because of the news they reported from conflict areas or because there were gunmen in the pictures they took. The importance of journalists reporting to the public about armed conflict cannot be understated. Journalists are the non-combatants of wars. By collecting and disseminating reliable information on armed conflicts, they fulfill a very important duty that serves the public interest.”
“It is my journalism that is on trial”
< p>He also emphasized that “As can be seen from the complaints, it is my journalism that is on trial. The biggest reason why I was charged in the context of these journalistic activities is that I photographed the moment of the killing of Kemal Kurkut, who was killed by the police in Diyarbakır on March 21, 2017.”
And he concluded: “Here the prosecuting authorities and then the prosecution are trying to take revenge on me for revealing the truth, by publishing the photos about Kemal Kurkut, who was announced to be a “suicide bomber”. So I am being prosecuted because I published the photos, refuting the officials of the Police Department, the governor of Diyarbakır, who published the untrue statement of the police, and the Ministry of Interior, who defended those responsible for this murder.
The prosecution will have understood that I cannot be punished with baseless allegations, at all stages from the date of my detention until today, that I made “propaganda for a terrorist organization”, because I am only being prosecuted for my journalistic activities. In my defense from the beginning of my trial, I tried to explain with all honesty and with all the information I have that these allegations do not reflect the truth.
Even the clear picture of the execution was not enough to to convict a Turkish police officer for the cold-blooded murder of Kurdish violinist Kemal Kurkut on March 21, 2017
The frames of the murder
In mid-November 2020, Turkish “justice” acquitted the murdering police officers, and now, in 2022, five years later, it is sending to prison the journalist who revealed the murder.
According to the facts, 23-year-old Kurdish Kemal Kurkut, being a music student and a violinist, traveled to Diyarbakır on March 21, 2017 for the famous Kurdish holiday “Nevroz” – it is the day Kurds welcome spring. After his execution, the Turkish authorities announced that Kemal was killed because he was suspected of being a “suicide bomber”. “Al-Monitor” agency, Kurkut family lawyer Reyhan Yalcida Baydemir.
According to Al-Monitor, Kurds and Alevis are vulnerable to attack by the Turkish authorities, at any time.
“We lost our father when Kemal was 6 years old. Kemal was 19 when the riot broke out in Gezi Park, and when he heard the piano recital he decided to return to college and his passion, music. It was then, when Kemal heard the Turkish police asking the people “where are the Kurds”, noted the brother of the murdered man, Ercan.
It is infuriating that the Turkish authorities tried to link Kemal to the “Islamic State” and the attack on the train station in Ankara, where 109 people were killed in 2015.
In 2016 and after the coup attempt, Kemal was forced to take off his shirt to enter a square where the Kurds were celebrating Nevroz.
yet another 'possible terrorist' case for state records.
Because of his background
Gyock had to hide his camera memory card machine, when they carried out an illegal inspection. Later, the Turkish authorities disappeared the evidence.
It is clear that the Turkish police targeted Kemal Kurkut because of his Kurdish origin and thinking that Nevroz brings the young Kurds closer to the tradition. Within this tradition, the way of resistance to the totalitarianism of the Turkish regime is sought.
