Two prominent Turkish journalists trial due

Two prominent Turkish journalists trial due

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two prominent Turkish journalists are due to go on trial charged with revealing state secrets, BBC News reports.

Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, from the newspaper Cumhuriyet, were arrested in November over a report alleging that the Turkish government had tried to ship arms to Islamists in Syria. They deny the charges but face possible life sentences if found guilty.

Supporters of the two men say the case is an important test of press freedom inTurkey.

The Turkish government has come under increasing international criticism over its treatment of journalists.

Earlier this month, Turkish police raided the offices of the country's biggest newspaper, Zaman, hours after a court ruling placed it under state control.

Can Dundar, Cumhuriyet's editor-in-chief, and Erdem Gul, Ankara bureau chief, were arrested last November.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally filed a criminal complaint against them. They were held on pre-trial detention but were released in February after the Constitutional Court ruled their rights to liberty and free expression had been violated.

Campaigners say the case is politically motivated and part of a growing crackdown on media critical of President Erdogan.

On Thursday, March 24, dozens of prominent writers published an open letter to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, urging the government to drop the charges against the Cumhuriyet journalists.

"We believe that Can Dundar and Erdem Gul are facing life in prison simply for carrying out their legitimate work as journalists," they said.

The letter also voiced concern over the "increasing climate of fear and censorship and the stifling of critical voices in Turkey".

Zaman newspaper is closely linked to the Hizmet movement of influential U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The government says Hizmet is a "terrorist" group aiming to overthrow President Erdogan. Gulen was once an ally of Erdogan but the two fell out.

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