Turkish judiciary has charged two journalists from the Cumhuriyet newspaper with espionage. Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of the Turkish language newspaper, and Erdem Gul, the paper's Ankara bureau chief, were arrested and placed in a pre-trial detention Thursday after a court in Istanbul had charged them with espionage and revealing secret documents, according to the Middle East Eye.
"MİT TIR'ları Türkmenlere gitmedi"diye yemin eden Tuğrul Türkeş Başbakan yardımcısı oldu Bunu kanıtlayan Can Dündar ise tutuklandı...
— Can Dündar (@DundarHayran) November 27, 2015
The newspaper, in a front page story published in May, revealed that the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) sent arms and ammunition to Syrian rebels fighting against Bashar al-Assad.
"We are accused of 'spying.' The president said [our action is] 'treason.' We are not traitors, spy, or heroes; we are journalists. What we have done here was an act of journalism. Of course, this prosecution will help enlighten how these incidents took place, rather than how we covered this story," Dündar said shortly before his court appearance on Thursday, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Istanbul prosecutor Hadi Salihoglu issued a statement following the court's decision. He said that the journalists' arrest has nothing to do with freedom of press in the country.
"The search of (Turkish intelligence) MIT trucks has no concern with 'freedom of press', which is guaranteed in the [Turkey's] constitution, and no individual rights and freedoms have been violated. The suspects were invited to the prosecution office by phone without any detention," he said, according to the Anadolu Agency.
The arrest of the journalists sparked an international outrage and invited condemnation from international organizations working for free press. "This case will seriously damage Turkey's pledge to carry out EU reforms and the promised standards of fundamental rights and freedoms," said Erol Onderoglu from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), according to CNN.
