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| Recep Tayip Erdogan dragging Turkey into the abyss |
The paper has seen its Editor-in-chief and Ankara correspondent arrested and charged with espionage and treason on Thursday for daring to accuse Turkey of doing business with ISIL.
Both men say they have only done their jobs and deny their reporting is helping enemies of Turkey.
“As you know, an investigation has been launched into our reports on intelligence agency MIT trucks carrying weapons. The plaintiff is President Tayyip Erdogan himself.
We came here to defend journalism. We came here to defend people’s right to be informed, their right to learn the truth if the government is lying,” said Can Dündar, the senior of the two men.
“If the country is under a certain threat or in danger, a journalist has to report it,” said Erdem Gül.
Both men were placed in custody after their declarations. Turkey is currently rated near the bottom of global tables for press freedom and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the author of the lorry story “will pay a heavy price”.
Read more: Turkey detains journalists who allege army lorries carried weapons for ISIL | euronews, world news
