Turkey jails journalists for report on officer's funeral

ISTANBUL - Two Turkish journalists face up to nine years in prison over a report on the funeral of a Turkish intelligence officer apparently killed in Libya, local media reported Thursday.

News director Baris Terkoglu and reporter Hulya Kilinc were detained on Wednesday after a video was published on the OdaTV website claiming to show the officer's quiet burial, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.

The journalists were taken to an Istanbul court on Wednesday which formally arrested them on suspicion of disclosing the identity of an intelligence agency official, state news agency Anadolu said.

The two journalists were questioned by prosecutors for one-and-a-half hours, according to Diken news website. The judge eventually ruled that the OdaTV report had put members of the officer’s family in danger and compromised intelligence operations, Diken said.

OdaTV showed footage on Tuesday of the funeral in the western province of Manisa, saying the ceremony was low-key and held without the attendance of high-ranking officials. OdaTV published the officer's first name and the initial of his last name, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said.

OdaTV said that an opposition lawmaker, Good Party Istanbul deputy Ümit Özdağ, had already revealed the officer's identity at a press conference in Turkey's parliament that was broadcast online.

But Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu criticised OdaTV's report in an interview with CNN Turk.

"There is such a thing as state secrets, national security secrets," he said.

Terkoglu served 19 months in jail in 2011-12 on accusations of taking part in an alleged plot to topple the government. He was later released along with many others at the time and the case later fell apart.

Turkey says it has sent dozens of military personnel for training purposes to support the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli as it heads off an assault by Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, but denies they are engaged in active fighting.

Press freedoms in Turkey have declined sharply under the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with opposition activists accusing Erdogan and his ruling AK Party of seeking to stamp out dissenting voices in the country. 

That media crackdown escalated sharply following a failed coup in 2016, as the government sought to suppress political opponents that it accused of being putschists and sympathizers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who allegedly organised the attempted takeover.

RSF ranks Turkey 157th out of 180 countries for press freedom, and the CPJ said 47 journalists were behind bars in December.