Journalists charged with co-operation with Gulen appear trial in Turkey

Workers from the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, 17 of them, respectively, will stand trial today, after several months spent in custody.

Most of the suspects were detained in October 2016, the period in which Turkey was in a state of emergency.

The state of emergency in Turkey has been declared after failed coup attempts last July.

Authorities blame cleric Fetullah Gulen for the matter.

The judgment of journalists and managers of the Cumhuriyet newspaper have raised concerns about press freedom under the regime of President Recep Tayip Erdogan.

The defendants could be sentenced to 43 years in prison.

Workers from the Cumhuriyet newspaper are accused of publishing state secrets and co-operation with Gulen.

Through a joint statement, groups advocating press freedom have said the “number of workers of the Cumhuriyet newspaper aimed at silenceing one of the few opposition voices in the country”.

According to the press freedom protection group, P24, currently in Turkey are 166 jailed journalists, most of whom were arrested at the time of the state of emergency in this country.

But Erdogan has insisted this month that there are only “two real journalists” behind bars in Turkey.