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Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 4 2012
Journalists defend themselves over coup case
ISTANBUL - H�¼rriyet Daily News
Arrested journalists Ahmet ���±k and Nedim
Ã?Â?ener presented their defense to the court today in an
ongoing coup plot case.
���±k was the first to defend himself
against charges of being a member of an armed criminal organization
with the purpose of overthrowing the current government.
���±k said he did not take the
prosecutor's indictment seriously but he would defend himself
anyhow. He was a journalist seeking the truth and he did not know why
he was arrested, he said.
"One needs to be blind in his mind to claim I am part of a coup plot.
I am being tried as a plotter with total disregard to my past, my
journalism and my socialist identity. If you know nothing about me,
you can at least Google my name to find out,"
���±k said.
���±k said it was not journalists who were
on trial but the profession of journalism itself, and that the trials
aimed at intimidating the people.
Police records in the indictment
Journalist Nedim Ã?Â?ener presented his defense after
���±k, saying he was sorry to see records
held by the police copied in their entirety into the prosecutor's
indictment.
"The police officers who arrested me are the ones who killed Hrant
Dink," Ã?Â?ener said, pointing out his arrest was directly
related to the investigation into the assassination of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
"I was tried for a 30-year sentence while killers of Hrant walk free
... I do not want my daughter to grow up in a country where Hrant's
killers are free," Ã?Â?ener said.
January/05/2012
Jan 4 2012
Journalists defend themselves over coup case
ISTANBUL - H�¼rriyet Daily News
Arrested journalists Ahmet ���±k and Nedim
Ã?Â?ener presented their defense to the court today in an
ongoing coup plot case.
���±k was the first to defend himself
against charges of being a member of an armed criminal organization
with the purpose of overthrowing the current government.
���±k said he did not take the
prosecutor's indictment seriously but he would defend himself
anyhow. He was a journalist seeking the truth and he did not know why
he was arrested, he said.
"One needs to be blind in his mind to claim I am part of a coup plot.
I am being tried as a plotter with total disregard to my past, my
journalism and my socialist identity. If you know nothing about me,
you can at least Google my name to find out,"
���±k said.
���±k said it was not journalists who were
on trial but the profession of journalism itself, and that the trials
aimed at intimidating the people.
Police records in the indictment
Journalist Nedim Ã?Â?ener presented his defense after
���±k, saying he was sorry to see records
held by the police copied in their entirety into the prosecutor's
indictment.
"The police officers who arrested me are the ones who killed Hrant
Dink," Ã?Â?ener said, pointing out his arrest was directly
related to the investigation into the assassination of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
"I was tried for a 30-year sentence while killers of Hrant walk free
... I do not want my daughter to grow up in a country where Hrant's
killers are free," Ã?Â?ener said.
January/05/2012