Detention of BirGün employees brought to the agenda of the Turkish Parliament

birgun.net Publication Coordinators Uğur Koç and Berkant Gültekin, along with birgun.net Managing Editor Yaşar Gökdemir, were detained for reporting on the Sabah newspaper's visit to Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek. CHP Istanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu brought the detention of the journalists to the Parliament's agenda.

Tanrıkulu submitted a parliamentary question to the Speaker of the Parliament, requesting a response from Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç. 

In his parliamentary question, Tanrıkulu stated the following:

"BirGün Newspaper Web Publication Coordinators Uğur Koç and Berkant Gültekin, as well as Birgun.net Managing Editor Yaşar Gökdemir, were detained due to a report regarding a visit made to Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek's office. This situation raises serious concerns regarding press freedom and freedom of expression."

Sezgin Tanrıkulu listed the following questions for Minister Tunç to answer:

"On what grounds and based on what legal basis were the journalists in question detained?

What is the reason for no action being taken against another newspaper despite it publishing the same report?

Have the drawbacks of detaining journalists in terms of press freedom and the public's right to receive information been evaluated?

What kind of measures does your government plan to take to ensure that members of the press can perform their duties freely?

What is the number of detentions and investigations targeting members of the press in Turkey?

How have such actions increased over the last 5 years?"

News Source: 12punto