This is truly a sad day in Turkey for journalism. Can Dündar, the journalist who exposed fascist Erdogan’s lies by revealing to the world that Erdogan was secretly arming the rebels in Syria to take out Assad, has now been sentenced to over five years in prison along with a fellow Cumhuriyet journalist, Erdem Gül:
HURRIYET – An Istanbul court sentenced Cumhuriyet journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül to five years in prison for “leaking state secrets” on May 6, hours after Dündar escaped unharmed from an armed attack in front of Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse.
Dündar, the daily’s editor-in-chief, was given five years and 10 months for “leaking state secrets” while the paper’s Ankara bureau chief, Gül, was given five years on the same charge. However, the duo will not immediately go to prison.
“All of us have to be brave,” Dündar told reporters after the verdict.
Dündar and Gül were on trial for “leaking state secrets” due to stories published about Turkish intelligence trucks bound for Syria with hidden weapons in early 2014. They were arrested on Nov. 26, 2015, and released on Feb. 26 following a Constitutional Court decision.
Just before the verdict was announced, someone tried to assassinate Cun Dündar but was apparently a pretty bad shot:
Here’s the back story on why Dündar was arrested in the first place:
THE GUARDIAN – Reuters reported on 21 May, citing a prosecutor and court testimony, that MIT helped deliver arms to parts of Syria under Islamist rebel control in late 2013 and early 2014.
The witness testimony contradicts Turkey’s denials that it sent arms to Syrian rebels and, by extension, contributed to the rise of Islamic State, now a major concern for the Nato member.
Syria and some of Turkey’s western allies say Turkey, in its haste to see President Bashar al-Assad toppled, let fighters and arms over the border, some of whom went on to join Isis which now controls swaths of Syria and Iraq.
Cumhuriyet said its video dated from 19 January, 2014 but did not say how it had obtained the footage.
Even Joe Biden told the truth about Turkey smuggling arms into Syria before he was forced to apologize:
This is why journalism in Turkey is dead. Dündar exposed the truth and now will serve time for it. The only good thing here is that Dündar didn’t get a life sentence which is what Erdogan was pushing for.