Turkish daily to sue Davutoğlu for media ban at prosecutor’s funeral

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (C) attends a funeral for prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz at İstanbul’s Eyüp Sultan Mosque. (Photo: DHA)

April 04, 2015, Saturday/ 11:09:31/ TODAYSZAMAN.COM

RELATED NEWS

Turkish pro-secularist newspaper Cumhuriyet announced on Saturday that it will sue Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu for banning several media outlets from covering a funeral for a state prosecutor killed by a far-left terrorist group on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz was laid to rest on Wednesday following a funeral ceremony attended by thousands of people. A number of media institutions, including Cumhuriyet and agencies, television channels and newspapers of Doğan and Feza media groups, were denied accreditation to enter an İstanbul mosque to cover the funeral. Davutoğlu then announced that he had personally ordered the ban to punish the media outlets for publishing a photo of the slain prosecutor with a gun pointed to his head hours in his office.

Kiraz, who was leading an investigation into the death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan during the Gezi protests, was taken hostage by two gunmen from the terrorist group the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) in his office at the İstanbul Courthouse. Both the prosecutor and the terrorists were killed after a police operation to rescue him. Authorities said the prosecutor was shot in the head at a close range and that the bullet was fired from the captors’ gun.

Davutoğlu accused the media of spreading terrorist propaganda and disrespect for the family of the prosecutor.

Prosecutors then launched investigations into seven newspapers, which published the photo of the slain prosecutor taken hours before his death, including Cumhuriyet on the grounds of spreading terrorist propaganda.

In an open letter to Davutoğlu, Cumhuriyet said the prime minister had openly committed a crime by blocking media access to information.

The newspaper accused Davutoğlu of violating both moral norms and laws by using a “grave murder that pained everyone with a conscience” to justify “your authoritarian practices.” It said silence in the face of violations of its rights granted by law and submission to pressure would amount to a “betrayal of journalism.”

Cumhuriyet’s announcement of the lawsuit against Davutoğlu came a day after Hürriyet, the flagship newspaper of the Doğan media group, slammed Davutoğlu in an editorial for the selective media ban at the prosecutor’s funeral and his accusations against news outlets who published the prosecutor’s photo.

Stressing that Wednesday's media ban is not the first sanction that Hürriyet has encountered, the daily said it also faced media bans during the Sep. 12 coup regime and was slammed by the elected government due to its publications.

Davutoğlu defiant

Responding to criticism from the media, Davutoğlu remained defiant on Saturday, insisting that the publication of the photo of the prosecutor with a gun pointed to his head cannot be tolerated in the name of the freedom of press.

“This is a clear example of irresponsibility. Everyone will respect [the sanctity of] human life,” Davutoğlu told reporters on Saturday afternoon. “What would they do if their family had been in that situation? Would they sue us or the relevant [media] institutions?” he asked, referring to the Cumhuriyet's announcement to sue him.

Keywords: Mehmet Selim Kiraz , DHKP/C , Cumhuriyet newspaper , Ahmet Davutoğlu