Broadcast with an 'empty chair' from Fatih Altaylı's team! 'We are standing tall'

Following the arrest of Fatih Altaylı, the program “Fatih Altaylı comments”, which he broadcasts every weekday morning on his YouTube channel, was filmed by his team this morning. In the program, where the chair Fatih Altaylı usually sits in was shown on screen, his colleague Emre Acar voiced criticisms on behalf of the team regarding the arrest decision.

In the video published under the title "Fatih Altaylı CANNOT COMMENT", Emre Acar stated that the words used as the basis for Altaylı's arrest were distorted, and said, “The prosecutor's office and the criminal judgeship of peace issued an arrest warrant without considering the claims and evidence.”

"WE WILL CONTINUE TO STAND TALL"

Acar delivered the message, “We want everyone to know that as Fatih Altaylı's team, we will continue to stand tall, speak the truths we know, and raise our voices against injustice; we will not cower, we will not be intimidated, and we will continue to share what we know to be true with those who love and support us.”

Stating that “even the defenses made by his lawyers and the evidence they presented were not evaluated,” Acar noted the following:

“Evaluating Article 310/2 as if it were a direct criminal provision means punishing an act that is not defined in the article. This is contrary to Article 38 of the Constitution, Article 2 of the Turkish Penal Code, and Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Otherwise, an indefinite, unpredictable, and arbitrary punishment practice arises, as if any action against the president would be a crime. This is incompatible with the principle of the rule of law.

The action that is the subject of the ex officio investigation, for example, a social media post, a press statement, or a verbal declaration, does not contain violence, does not carry the nature of a physical attack, and does not contain a direct threat to the president's life, bodily integrity, or freedom. On the other hand, as you all know, the presidency is a position open to the highest level of criticism in democratic societies; I wanted to state and remind this as well.

Finally, we want everyone to know that as Fatih Altaylı's team, we will continue to stand tall, speak the truths we know, and raise our voices against injustice; we will not cower, we will not be intimidated, and we will continue to share what we know to be true with those who love and support us. On the other hand, we will seek all our rights through legal channels and make all necessary efforts for the law to function. We will continue to work with all our might until the day Mr. Fatih sits in this chair you see on the screen again and continues his commentary.”