Journalists file criminal complaint against Akşam newspaper

 Several journalists mentioned in a report by the newspaper Akşam, which alleged that Medya A.Ş. President Murat Ongun financed certain journalists and that Emrah Bağdatlı delivered money to them, have filed criminal complaints.

Lawyer Hüseyin Ersöz announced that he has filed a criminal complaint on behalf of journalists Nevşin Mengü, Yavuz Oğhan, and Barış Pehlivan. The petition submitted to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requests the identification and investigation of those who disseminated false and manipulative information based on HTS/base station data, which is believed to have been obtained through illegal means.

Journalist İsmail Saymaz, who was also named in the report, stated in a post on his social media account that his lawyers have filed a criminal complaint regarding the matter.

Journalist Ruşen Çakır, through his lawyer, filed a complaint against the Editor-in-Chief of Akşam newspaper, Recep Mert, for the crimes of "defamation" and "violation of privacy."

3 JOURNALISTS DEMAND PUBLIC PROSECUTION 

The petition prepared by lawyer Ersöz on behalf of Mengü, Oğhan, and Pehlivan emphasizes that this issue has a dimension that concerns the legal security of all citizens, not just journalists, and recalls the reactions Mengü, Oğhan, and Pehlivan expressed on social media. Requesting the identification of the suspects and the initiation of a public prosecution against them, the petition states:

"The privacy of our clients' private lives has been publicly violated within the scope of 'criminal organization activity for profit,' and controversial information obtained unlawfully has been shared via the suspects' social media accounts. In this context, it has become necessary to file a criminal complaint against the suspects who obtained, disseminated, published, and shared our clients' HTS/base station data, primarily the relevant X users."

Saymaz announced that they had filed a criminal complaint in a post on his X account:

"In the rag called Akşam, journalists, including myself, were slandered. It was written as if meetings that never happened took place and conversations that never occurred were held. This crime was committed by obtaining or leaking personal data such as HTS signals. My lawyers filed a criminal complaint this morning."

ÇAKIR FILES COMPLAINT 

In the complaint petition filed by journalist Ruşen Çakır through his lawyer against the Editor-in-Chief of Akşam newspaper, Recep Mert, it was stated that Çakır does not know Emrah Bağdatlı and that the allegation that they met 11 times is completely false.

It was also noted that Çakır did not receive any money in an envelope from Murat Ongun, Emrah Bağdatlı, or any third party.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The pro-government newspaper Akşam published a text on Sunday, May 18, regarding the investigation into the İBB.

The text on the newspaper's pages included the claim that "Upon investigating the allegations mentioned in witness and confession statements reflected in the media, such as 'Murat Ongun was financing journalists, and Emrah Bağdatlı was delivering the money to the journalists,' an unusual traffic of meetings and physical encounters was uncovered."

Akşam newspaper also reported that an unnamed witness claimed that Emrah Bağdatlı met with certain journalists.

Journalists named in the report included Yavuz Oğhan, Nevşin Mengü, Barış Pehlivan, Şaban Sevinç, Ruşen Çakır, İsmail Saymaz, and Bahar Feyzan.