Court Orders Arrest Of 3 Police Chiefs Detained In Dec. 14 Operations

A court ruled on Friday for the arrest of three police chiefs who were detained on Dec. 14 in a government-backed operation targeting journalists, scriptwriters and police on charges of forming and leading an armed terrorist organization.

A crowd of protestors gathered on Friday in front of the İstanbul Courthouse, where the İstanbul Criminal Court of Peace ruled for the arrest of former İstanbul Police Department Counterterrorism unit head and Hakkari Police Chief Tufan Ergüder, former Public Security Branch head Ertan Erçıktı and former Police Chief Mustafa Kılıçaslan on charges of forming and leading an armed terrorist organization.

The court also ruled that Samanyolu Media Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca be arrested pending trial and that Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and seven others detained on Sunday be released.

The Dec. 14 operation targeted a number of other journalists, scriptwriters, producers and police officials. The operation is largely viewed as a politically motivated crackdown on media critical of the government. Some of the detainees have already been released following questioning.

The Association of Defenders of Police Officers' Rights organized a demonstration in front of the İstanbul Courthouse and released a statement saying the detention of the police officials, who have spent their entire careers fighting terrorism, will not make the public forget the government's corruption.

Fuat Çakmak, the president of the association, said the detentions were an attempt to oppress free media and an injustice to the police officers, journalists and TV producers detained on Sunday.

Çakmak claimed that the detentions were part of a larger attempt to divert the attention of the public from corruption and graft probes that went public on Dec. 17 and 25 of last year. The investigations forced four Justice and Development Party (AK Party) ministers to resign in addition to the arrest of as three of these ministers' sons, businessmen and AK Party politicians.

While reading the statement to the press, Çakmak said that all groups in Turkey have a right to democracy, human rights and freedom of expression, whether those groups be Turks, Kurds, rightist, leftist, Alevi or Sunni. Çakmak ended his speech saying supporters of media freedoms will not bow down to tyrants.

The Dec. 14 operation was staged around allegations that those detained had plotted against a deadly al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Tahşiyeciler (Annotators). Mehmet Doğan, the leader of the group, is known for his radical Islamist views.

Dumanlı and Hidayet Karaca were also detained in the operation. The Zaman and STV media groups are both affiliated with the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by the teachings of US-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who was accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of plotting a coup against his government and the Turkish state.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)