Because of a much-discussed statement about the detention situation of Abdullah Öcalan, Turkish journalist Merdan Yanardağ will stand trial from 4 October. In the indictment adopted on Friday by the 30th Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul, the editor-in-chief of the opposition news channel Tele1 is accused of "propaganda for a terrorist organisation" and "praising crimes and criminals", announced the lawyers of the 62-year-old journalist. According to the statement, the journalist faces a prison sentence of between one and a half and ten and a half years.

The accusations against Yanardağ are related to statements made in a broadcast in June concerning, among other things, the total isolation of Kurdish thought leader Abdullah Öcalan on the prison island of Imrali. The journalist remarked that this form of detention would contradict current Turkish laws. "Öcalan is the longest imprisoned political prisoner in Turkey. If the normal laws of execution were applicable, he should actually be released (...). The isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan has no place in the law. It must be lifted because we can neither see him nor hear him nor discuss him. We don't know whether he is watching or not."

Öcalan is being held hostage, while at the same time he is being negotiated with, Yanardağ continued, pointing out the strict ban on contact even with his lawyers and family members: "Abdullah Öcalan is not a person to be taken lightly. He has almost become a philosopher in prison because he does nothing but read. He is an extremely intelligent person who reads politics correctly, sees it correctly and analyses it correctly."

Yanardağ's remarks prompted the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to initiate proceedings under the terror paragraph. Turkish media quoted the indictment as saying that the journalist had caused public outrage with his statements. Accordingly, Yanardağ is guilty of legitimising and promoting "violence by the PKK/KCK terrorist organisation", and “by glorifying a convicted criminal as a political hostage, he also hurt and deeply disturbed many people.”

Yanardağ was arrested by anti-terror police officers in the broadcasting building in Istanbul on 26 June, only a few hours after the programme "4 Questions 4 Answers" was broadcast on Tele1. Less than 24 hours later, pre-trial detention was ordered against the journalist in Silivri prison. Meanwhile, Tele1 has been banned from broadcasting for one week due to Yanardağ’s incriminated remarks. The Turkish broadcasting supervisory authority RTÜK also fined the station five per cent of its advertising revenue in June.