BREAKING NEWS... Terror investigation into Istanbul Bar Association

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an ex officio investigation into the President of the Istanbul Bar Association and its board members on charges of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and "publicly spreading misleading information."

PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE ISSUED A STATEMENT

In its statement, the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said: "Due to findings that misleading information was spread claiming that PKK terrorist organization members Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin were killed due to their so-called journalistic activities and journalist identities, and that our state committed so-called war crimes, an ex officio investigation has been launched by our Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against the Istanbul Bar Association President and board members on charges of 'propagandizing for a terrorist organization and publicly spreading misleading information.'"

WHY WAS THE INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED?

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that Cihan Bilgin, born in Mardin in 1996, had a criminal record in Diyarbakır in 2015 for "establishing, managing, and being a member of the PKK/KCK armed terrorist organization" and that there was an active arrest warrant for him issued by the Mardin 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace for "being a member of the PKK/KCK-PYD/YPG armed terrorist organization."

Regarding Nazım Daştan, born in Ağrı in 1992, the office announced that he had 2 criminal records in Gaziantep in 2012 and 2016 for "establishing and managing the PKK/KCK armed terrorist organization" and "propagandizing for the PKK/KCK terrorist organization," and 2 criminal records in Ağrı in 2016 and 2019 for "propagandizing for the PKK/KCK terrorist organization." Furthermore, it stated that there was 1 active arrest warrant for him issued by the Gaziantep 2nd High Criminal Court for "being a member of the PKK/KCK-YPG/YDG-H armed terrorist organization," and 4 active arrest warrants issued by the Istanbul 10th Criminal Judgeship of Peace, the Gaziantep 2nd Criminal Judgeship of Peace, and the Diyadin Criminal Judgeship of Peace for "propagandizing for the PKK/KCK terrorist organization."

Following the deaths of Bilgin and Daştan, the Istanbul Bar Association had made the following statement via its social media account:

"According to information reflected in the press, journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin lost their lives as a result of an attack they were subjected to while following developments in Syria on December 19. Targeting members of the press in conflict zones constitutes a violation of International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Convention. Furthermore, targeting civilians who are not parties to the war is defined as one of the war crimes in Article 8/2/b/ii of the Rome Statute. Therefore, the rules regarding the protection of journalists working in armed conflict zones are within the scope of International Humanitarian Law.

Again, during the press statement intended to be held at Şişhane Square regarding the aforementioned incident, citizens, including four of our colleagues who are members of our Bar Association, two law students, and dozens of journalists, were detained. While an investigation should have been launched immediately into this incident that violates international law and those responsible should have been held accountable, the detention of members of the press and our colleagues who were exercising their Constitutional rights and mourning for their colleagues is an unacceptable situation.

We demand that an effective investigation be conducted regarding the killing of our two journalist citizens and that those detained after making a press statement using their Constitutional rights be released immediately, and we respectfully announce to the public that we will be following the process."

News Source: 12punto