The MIT's 'Libya sensitivity' and what happened to that journalist

Elif Akkuş, who worked at TRT for 27 years, is known as our country's first female war correspondent.

She served in war zones such as Israel, Libya, and Syria, particularly in recent times, and produced impactful reports. However, she has faced one ordeal after another over the past year. Ultimately, she was dismissed from her civil service position and arrested twice.

LET'S BE SELF-CRITICAL

On Friday evening, the first hearing of the case that led to Elif Akkuş's second arrest took place. It was decided that Akkuş, who had been held in Bakırköy Prison for 58 days, would be released. I shared this on my social media account.

I was surprised when I saw the news the next day. Almost all of our media reported that Akkuş was arrested on October 20 on charges of “unlawfully obtaining or disseminating personal data, threats, blackmail, and defamation” as part of an investigation into whether she was the “source of posts made from an anonymous X account,” and that she was released as of Friday evening. In other words, according to these reports, Akkuş had been in custody for 8 months.

However, Akkuş, who was ordered to be arrested while on a stretcher and sent to Sincan Prison on those alleged charges, was released by the duty Criminal Court of First Instance about a month later on November 15, and our media had reported that development.

Because we forget everything quickly and, unfortunately, there is no follow-up, such mistakes are made!..

DID YOU SAY ARREST FOR “CORRUPTION”?

After making these reminders in the spirit of being self-critical, let's come to Elif Akkuş's second arrest, which occurred 6 months after that release.

In both incidents, the complainant was the TRT management. It was obvious that Akkuş was not wanted at TRT. Following the administrative investigation report prepared by the TRT Inspection Board, Akkuş was first dismissed from her civil service position.

She was also arrested on May 2. This time, she was accused of expenses she made during wartime in Libya and Syria. In plain terms, it was alleged that she had “embezzled money” and also that she had not come to work for 168 days in one year without an excuse.

An indictment was prepared against Akkuş just four days after she was arrested. The indictment was almost a summary of the TRT Inspection Board's investigation report.

Akkuş, whose trial was decided to be held at the Ankara 34th High Criminal Court, drew attention to the similarity between the indictment and the Inspection Board report when she appeared before the judge on the 58th day of her detention, stating, “It is understood that no examination different from the report prepared by a committee that has lost its impartiality has been conducted.”

Continuing as if crying out, she used the following expressions:

“I am deeply saddened to be before you on charges of ‘qualified embezzlement’ due to administrative actions and administrative investigations systematically carried out against me by TRT officials since April 20, 2023, in violation of the law and custom. I have difficulty understanding how the value of the labor I have given to date changes according to changing conditions. I lived as a journalist, I am being tried as a civil servant. People go to court to be cleared, but I have been in prison for 58 days to prove my innocence. As a war correspondent, while I was fighting to protect the interests of our country, our state, and TRT during wartime, I would like to ask how TRT managers measure the value of our lives, how much value they place on our lives.”

While responding one by one to the accusations of “embezzling travel allowances” and not coming to work for 168 days, Elif Akkuş also underlined the following:

“The inspectors who prepared the investigation report went to Libya 4 years later to collect information and contacted the news sources and hotel staff I was in contact with during the war, and took initiatives that would disturb these people, and most importantly, affect our country's interests. So much so that; the people I was in secret contact with during the war for reasons such as being a news source, driver, translator, or other functional reasons, experienced anxiety regarding their safety in Libya, where democracy is not yet established and different power groups are influential, following the visit of the Chairman of the Inspection Board and the inspectors. It caused serious concern for the people I stood side by side with in the war zone for years, not only because they were subjected to questioning on ‘monetary’ issues, but also because they were exposed. The fact that this situation could have a devastating effect on Turkey's national interests in Libya was ignored by the inspectors conducting the investigation. One of the most serious incidents was the pressure exerted by the Chairman of the Inspection Board and the inspectors on the Libyans whose statements they wanted to take, saying, ‘We will have you detained.’”

THE CONFIDENTIALITY DECISION MADE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HEARING

Let us suffice by saying, “If only our state would pursue all allegations of corruption with such sensitivity and meticulousness and hold people accountable,” and move on to the striking development that took place in the hearing.

While Akkuş's account regarding Libya was continuing, her lawyers Hüseyin Ersöz and Nazlı Çubuklu Saygılı submitted a petition to the court.

In the petition, it was stated that Akkuş expressed what happened with all sincerity in her testimony, but could not bring the necessary clarity to some issues, and then it was said:

“The client did not act only as a news reporter; she also shared the information and images she obtained with Turkey's intelligence sources in Libya. In order to understand the subject and how and under what conditions the client worked, she needs to present these to your court in all their details. However, since the issues to be mentioned concern the national interests of the state, it has become necessary to request that the remainder of the hearing be held in closed session.”

Upon the request in question, the lawyers of TRT, who are the participants in the case, made the following statement:

“During the investigation phase, correspondence was made with the MIT, taking into account the issue of confidentiality. The MIT also verbally stated that the matter entirely concerns TRT and that the MIT has no sensitivity regarding the matter.”

Despite this statement by the TRT lawyers, the Prosecutor gave an opinion that “there is a legal benefit in continuing the hearing in closed session in terms of public safety.” The court also decided to hold a closed session, and after everyone except the parties was removed from the courtroom, Elif Akkuş continued her defense.

WHY WERE WE ARRESTED AND PUNISHED?

After that statement by the TRT lawyers, naturally, the cases filed against us journalists due to Libya came to my mind.

Let's remember; many journalists, primarily Barış Terkoğlu, Barış Pehlivan, Murat Ağırel, and Hülya Kılınç, were arrested just for reporting on the funeral ceremony of an MIT member who was martyred in Libya during the period when Elif Akkuş was serving there—without revealing his identity—and all of them, except for Barış Terkoğlu and Eren Ekinci, were sentenced to prison.

Likewise, after I was arrested on charges of “political and military espionage” due to my reports on Libya and Syria, I was sentenced to prison just for writing the name of our commander assigned to Libya.

But 4 years later, we understand from what the TRT lawyers said that; there was “no sensitivity of the MIT” in this case!..

If it's true; very interesting, isn't it?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

July 1, 2024