2016 prison census - Turkey: Ali Bulaç
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 1 December 2016 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Turkey: Ali Bulaç, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb84fc.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
| Ali Bulaç, Zaman | |
|---|---|
| Medium: | Internet, Print |
| Charge: | Anti-State |
| Imprisoned: | July 27, 2016 |
Ali Bulaç, a former columnist for the shuttered daily newspaper Zaman, turned himself in to police on July 27, 2016, when he learned from the press that there was a warrant for his arrest, he told Istanbul's Fourth Court of Penal Peace at his July 30, 2016, arraignment hearing.
The court arraigned him and codefendants and fellow former Zaman journalists Sahin Alpay, Ahmet Turan Alkan, and Mustafa Ünal on charges of being members of a terrorist organization. They were accused of following exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government accuses of maintaining a terrorist organization and "parallel state structure" (FETÖ/PDY, by its Turkish acronym) and masterminding a failed military coup on July 15, 2016.
According to records of the arraignment hearing, which CPJ has reviewed, the state alleged that Bulaç, Alpay, Alkan, and Ünal wrote articles in Zaman praising FETÖ/PDY and that the newspaper was the group's media organ.
The state further alleged that because Bulaç and the other Zaman columnists continued writing for the newspaper after its editor-in-chief, Ekrem Dumanli, was charged in absentia on charges of being "a member of an armed terrorist organization," they remained involved even they they knew the group included armed elements, according to court records.
According to the court records, the state also alleged that Bulaç, Alpay, Alkan, and Ünal praised Gülenists on social media, despite what the state described as "strong discourse and public information" that an armed uprising would take place.
The court judged Bulaç, Alpay, Alkan, and Ünal to be flight risks and ordered them jailed pending trial. Many people have fled Turkey in the wake of the government crackdown on suspected Gülenists.
The court did not specify the accusations against the individual journalists but judged their cases collectively, court documents show.
Bulaç, 66, told the court that he had had heart bypass surgery and suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes, and enlarged thyroid, the court records indicate.
An Istanbul court in March 2016 ordered the Feza Media Group, which owned Zaman and several other media outlets, placed under trustees appointed by the government. The government used emergency powers arrogated after the failed July 15 military coup to order the newspaper closed by decree on July 27, 2016.
