Istanbul court issues arrest warrant for Turkish editor

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for the former editor of a Turkish newspaper.

Ekrem Dumanli, who edited Zaman, a daily whose management was taken over by government trustees last week, has been charged with "insulting and slandering Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan".

However, Bulent Kenes, the former editor-in-chief of Zaman’s English-language sister publication Today's Zaman, who is also on trial, rejected the accusations, according to judicial sources.

According to Kenes, the bill of indictment is "full of mistakes."

"The mentioned story [on the websites] was prepared referring to the tweets of Fuat Avni – a pseudonym used by an anonymous government whistleblower", Kenes said.

Dumanli had faced another arrest warrant back in November for "leading an armed terrorist organization and plotting to overthrow the elected Turkish government".

The court's decision is part of an ongoing “parallel state” probe into the so-called Selam-Tevhid organization.

This group is accused of wiretapping senior government figures, including the prime minister, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, and cabinet ministers, as well as journalists, through serving state officials.

In December 2014, Dumanli was taken into custody for allegedly being affiliated with what the government describes as the "parallel state" – a purported group of bureaucrats embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police.

Last Friday, an Istanbul court decided to appoint trustees for the Feza Gazatecilik Media Group, which includes Zaman.

The company is accused of supporting of what is called the Gulenist Terror Organization, headed by U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is said to have infiltrated Turkey’s state apparatus with thousands of followers in an effort to overthrow the government.