Turkish PM does not support arrest of journalists

İsmet Berkan - BRUSSELS

AA Photo

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said that although it is a “crime to reveal state secrets,” he is against the arrest of two prominent Turkish journalists last week.

“It is not right to accuse the government over every step made by the judicial system,” Davutoğlu said, speaking to journalists en route to Brussels for a key summit with EU leaders. 

He was commenting on the Nov. 24 arrest of daily Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and Ankara Bureau Chief Erdem Gül on charges of “espionage” and “supporting an armed terrorist organization” based on reports in Cumhuriyet regarding Syrian-bound National Intelligence Agency (MİT) trucks in 2014.

 “As I said [on Nov. 28], the basic point is having a trial without an arrest. There are other possibilities [for the trial] available, such as probation,” Davutoğlu also said. 

“I believe it is right to order release pending trial, apart from in exceptional cases,” he said, while stressing that revealing state secrets “is a crime everywhere in the world.”