He was arrested after failed military coup almost two years ago, for which Turkish Government is responsible for US-living preacher Fethullah Gülen. Alpay wrote for now no longer existing newspaper Zaman, most important medium of Gülen movement. He is accused, like many or critical journalists in Turkey, of membership in a terrorist organization. The date for a process against it is not yet fixed.

Council of Europe criticized Turkey

The Constitutional Court had already ruled in January 2018 that detention of Alpay and likewise complaining journalist Mehmet Altan violated right to freedom of expression and of press. According to harsh criticism of Erdoğan government in decision, subordinate courts had denied release of two. The Council of Europe had refore strongly criticised Turkey and called for respect for its own constitutional court.

Alpay and Altan were finally drawn to Constitutional Court again. This wrote on Friday that his judgments were binding. Altan Case Sollzu be discussed at a later date. Next Tuesday, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is also dealing with both cases in Strasbourg.

According to human rights organizations, around 150 journalists and media professionals are currently in prison in Turkey. On worldwide ranking of press freedom of organization Reporters Without Borders, country is ranked 155 out of 180, two places behind Belarus. In recent weeks, however, some prominent journalists were released, including Ahmet Şık from government-critical newspaper Cumhuriyet and German-Turkish world correspondent Deniz Yücel.

Date Of Update: 18 March 2018, 12:02