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00:00In Turkey, it's been a week since protests erupted over the arrest of opposition leader
00:07Ekrem Ä°mamoÄŸlu, the mayor of Istanbul, who is charged with corruption and abetting terrorism.
00:17That has sparked the biggest mass demonstrations in more than a decade.
00:23This
00:38co-director of the Media and Law Studies Association, seven journalists including an AFP photojournalist
00:45currently behind bars.
00:48Thank you for speaking with us here on France 24.
00:52Thank you for having me, indeed.
00:54Seven journalists were detained on the 24th in early morning raids from their homes for
01:00covering these protests.
01:01One was detained actually at the protest and the other six were detained at 6 a.m. early
01:08morning raids, including one, and this is a mixed group of journalists.
01:12They're overwhelmingly photojournalists, and which shows that, as you suggested, there's
01:18also bans on coverage.
01:20And we have two world-renowned photojournalists, including Yasin Akgül, AFP's photojournalist.
01:29We have photojournalists working for two municipalities, and we have a reporter from Now TV, which
01:36can be considered a mainstream channel.
01:40And they were kept overnight in detention, and they're charged with breaking Turkey's
01:47law on protests, 29-11, which is used extensively against journalists in Turkey covering events.
01:56However, it's almost unheard of that anybody has been arrested over it, and most of the
02:00charges, if they turn into cases, actually end in, almost all of them end in acquittals.
02:06However, in this case, on the 25th, when they were taken to the courthouse, we are also
02:16defending three of the journalists, including AFP's Yasin Akgül.
02:22Around 11, towards noon, they said all of the journalists will be released.
02:27There were lists on the wall.
02:30They had their names on a piece of paper that the police officers had put up there.
02:36They were taken with a number of more than 200 other demonstrators, and they were going
02:42to be released.
02:43But just as they were going to be released, and very abruptly, the prosecutor changed
02:48their opinion, and they referred them to court for being put under arrest, under 29-11, which
02:55is the law on demonstrations and public gatherings.
03:00So that is one question.
03:01How did that happen?
03:02What was the motivation behind this change of heart that happened at the courthouse?
03:07This is-
03:08What's your explanation for that?
03:11Well, obviously, this is an answer the Turkish judicial authorities, the ministry, should
03:18give, and they owe us that.
03:19But it's very interesting, and it creates the appearance of an interference in the process
03:25that actually had come to a close.
03:29So it appears to be more than a change of mind, and it's no secret that Turkey's judicial
03:36independence in Turkey has been undermined for a long time, over the past decade or so.
03:42Now, as you mentioned, Evin, this is nothing new in Turkey.
03:48Is it different this time, when you see the scale, the size of these demonstrations?
03:59This is a good question.
04:00So a lot of analysts and a lot of observers and a lot of citizens here believe that this
04:04is a new level in terms of Turkey's, you know, the backslide in Turkish democracy.
04:11And because this is the first time we're seeing, you know, at Imamoglu, Erdogan's number one
04:18rival, who's won against him actually in Istanbul three times and who was set to win if he could
04:25ever be a presidential candidate.
04:26So that had not happened before in Turkey.
04:29It's unprecedented.
04:31And also, you know, appointing these trustees that are appointed by the government to non-Kurdish
04:36municipalities is also new.
04:39But on the other hand, as you said, this is nothing new.
04:44Journalists have been meeting, you know, police violence and arrests and trials, terrorism
04:50charges over their news reports.
04:54Since last year's elections, local elections in March, 13 municipalities have been appointing
04:59these trustees.
05:01So time will show if things will worsen or will normalize.
05:06But many analysts do see that as a new level.
05:10Have you and the attorneys been able to speak to their clients?
05:15Right.
05:16So today they were brought to Metris prison and they couldn't.
05:20Actually two of our clients are now at Metris prison.
05:23There are a lot of lines.
05:25But in terms of Yasin Akgül, who was defended by MLSA, he was in good spirits and he had
05:31a very high morale.
05:32I just wanted to say that yesterday.
05:35And there's actually been some good news that we're actually now, again, very abruptly waiting
05:40for the expecting them to be released, because today, again, in the afternoon, the justice
05:47minister said they would be looking into the case of the journalists and they would be
05:51correcting if a mistake was made.
05:54And my understanding is that some back channel dialogue took place with the judicial authorities.
06:04And now we also have two other clients, including former AFP photojournalist, Bilal Kılıç,
06:10who was in prison.
06:11And we have, our lawyers have filed objections today very swiftly.
06:15And I know that the lawyers representing the other four have also submitted objections
06:21until 5 p.m. today.
06:23And so the justice minister has toned down a little bit.
06:27We understand there's been some back channel dialogue and we're hoping that they might
06:31be released soon.
06:32There's been a formal complaint lodged by France.
06:36Does foreign pressure matter at this moment in time when Recep Tayyip Erdogan is having
06:43this showdown with his most formidable opposition foe?
06:50Right.
06:52Is that, can you repeat the question?
06:54Sorry.
06:55Does foreign pressure matter at this point in time?
06:58Yeah.
06:59This is also, I think this is a very important, not just for France, but from all of Europe,
07:04it's an important time to not close eyes to what's going on in Turkey, especially after
07:10Imamoglu's arrest, which many, as I said, deem to be potentially a new level of increasing
07:17authoritarianism on this part of the government.
07:19And in the past, many right activists here believe that, and I believe they're partially
07:24right that European, the EU has closed eyes to some very open violations of democratic
07:33rights due to the so-called refugee deal and other expectations from Turkey.
07:41And so I think it is a good time for changing that attitude for France and any other country.
07:47And I really believe that foreign pressure could help at this time.
07:53Evin Baris Altintas, many thanks for speaking with us from Turkey.
07:58Again, you're saying that there's hope that those seven journalists could be released
08:04on Thursday morning.
08:08Thanks for having me.