Journalist Salih Turan arrested on terrorism charges

Turkish journalist Salih Turan was arrested by a court on Wednesday on charges of alleged membership in a terrorist group, the Artı Gerçek news website reported.

Previously a reporter, Turan was detained on Tuesday on accusations of spreading terrorist propaganda on social media.

Turan was among scores of people including journalists working for Kurdish media outlets and members of the Kurdish political movement taken into custody by Turkish police on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Also detained in police raids that encompassed several provinces was journalist Melike Ceyhan, who used to work for the Mezopotamya news agency. She was reportedly released by a public prosecutor on Friday.

The homes of both journalists were searched and their electronic devices seized.

Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. The most recent figures documented by SCF show that 232 journalists and media workers were in jail as February 14, 2019, most in pretrial detention. Of those in prison 159 were under arrest pending trial while only 73 journalists have been convicted and are serving their time. Detention warrants are outstanding for 152 journalists who are living in exile or remain at large in Turkey. (SCF, turkishminute.com)