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The next day he was arrested and charged with obtaining the secret documents relating to the “Sledgehammer” plan. ''The Guardian'' described the allegations against Baransu as “extraordinary.” He faced up to eight years in prison.<ref name=guard>{{cite web| last =Greenslade| first =Roy| title =Turkish journalist arrested over military coup scoop he wrote in 2010 | work =The Guardian| date =Mar 5, 2015| url =http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/mar/05/turkish-journalist-arrested-over-military-coup-scoop-he-wrote-in-2010}}</ref> The exact charge leveled against Baransu was that he had formed a criminal organization” and procured, publicized and then destroyed “documents related to the state’s interests at home and abroad.”<ref name=hurr/>
The next day he was arrested and charged with obtaining the secret documents relating to the “Sledgehammer” plan. ''The Guardian'' described the allegations against Baransu as “extraordinary.” He faced up to eight years in prison.<ref name=guard>{{cite web| last =Greenslade| first =Roy| title =Turkish journalist arrested over military coup scoop he wrote in 2010 | work =The Guardian| date =Mar 5, 2015| url =http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/mar/05/turkish-journalist-arrested-over-military-coup-scoop-he-wrote-in-2010}}</ref> The exact charge leveled against Baransu was that he had formed a criminal organization” and procured, publicized and then destroyed “documents related to the state’s interests at home and abroad.”<ref name=hurr/>

In an article in the daily newspaper ''Cumhuriyet'', Ahmet Altan, founding editor of ''Taraf'', defended Baransu, writing, “Since when have coup plans been classified as ‘documents related to state security’ and ‘state knowledge that needs to be kept classified?’ I am the person who published the [Sledgehammer] story, the one who decided it needed to be published, the one who didn’t doubt for a moment that Sledgehammer was a coup plot.” Nina Ognianova of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists called for Baransu's release, saying: “A journalist’s job is to report on developments in the public interest, and it is absurd that a journalist should be prosecuted for obtaining documents which, in any case, were shared with authorities.”<ref name=guard/>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 00:23, 13 June 2015

Mehmet Baransu
Born1977
NationalityTurkish
Occupations
EmployerTaraf
AwardsSedat Simavi Journalism Award (2009)

Mehmet Baransu (born 1977) is a Turkish journalist and author of Kurdish origin.[1] He is a correspondent for Taraf, and previously worked for Aksiyon (1997–2000).[2] He is the winner of a 2009 Sedat Simavi Journalism Award.[3] Known for investigating the Turkish military, he reported on the "Cage Action Plan" which became part of the Ergenekon trials, and published documents in January 2010 revealing “Balyoz” ("Sledgehammer"), a plan for a coup that was hatched by Turkish military officers in 2003.[4][5] In January 2010, in connection with Sledgehammer, Baransu delivered a suitcase to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office a suitcase containing evidence of the coup plot such as CDs, tapes, printed documents, and handwritten notes.[6] The Sledgehammer plot involved plans to bomb two mosques in Istanbul, attack a military museum and blame it on religious extremists, and attack a Turkish plane and blame it on Greece. Three hundred and thirty-one of the 365 suspects were sentenced to prison on Sept. 21, 2012, while the remaining 34 were acquitted. Three retired generals were sentenced to life in prison on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government by force,” but their terms were later reduced to 20 years. Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled in June 2014 that the rights of most of the convicted suspects had been violated, and ordered the immediate release of 236 of them. The rest were released later. A new trial began on Nov. 3, 2014. Reports released in December 2014 and February 2015 claimed that some of the evidence in the case was fabricated.[6]

In 2010 it was revealed that the phones of both Baransu and his wife, Esra Baransu, had been tapped by the Turkish Gendarmerie on false pretences. The Gendarmerie had obtained warrants for the phone taps by falsely representing the IMEI code numbers of the Baransus' phones as belonging to fictional Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) suspects.[7][8] In 2011 five military officers were each sentenced to five years in jail for these actions.[9] In 2011 a voice recording posted online, allegedly by a military official, said that Baransu should be killed as a warning to others.[10]

His books include Mösyö: Hanefi Avcı’nın Yazamadıkları (2010), which alleges that former police chief Hanefi Avcı had committed torture and developed connections with the Devrimci Karargâh group, and that Avcı had published his book on Ergenekon to try to ward off arrest.[11] His 2012 book Pirus alleged plans to assassinate Chief of the General Staff Hilmi Özkök in order to permit a 2004 coup, and suggested that the plans were foiled when US officials found out about them.[12]

Baransu studied in the United States[clarification needed] for over three years, working on a thesis on child murders.[13]

In 2014, Turkey's highest court ruled that the officers convicted in connection with the “Sledgehammer” plot had not received a fair trial.

On March 1, 2015, in the wake of allegations by the ruling party that the “Sledgehammer” documents were forgeries, Baransu was detained in his home in the Kağıthane district of Istanbul. Meanwhile police counter-terrorist teams searched his home for ten or twelve hours (reports differed), and seized some documents.[6][14] During the months preceding this detention, he had been detained several times by police.[15]

The next day he was arrested and charged with obtaining the secret documents relating to the “Sledgehammer” plan. The Guardian described the allegations against Baransu as “extraordinary.” He faced up to eight years in prison.[16] The exact charge leveled against Baransu was that he had formed a criminal organization” and procured, publicized and then destroyed “documents related to the state’s interests at home and abroad.”[6]

In an article in the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, Ahmet Altan, founding editor of Taraf, defended Baransu, writing, “Since when have coup plans been classified as ‘documents related to state security’ and ‘state knowledge that needs to be kept classified?’ I am the person who published the [Sledgehammer] story, the one who decided it needed to be published, the one who didn’t doubt for a moment that Sledgehammer was a coup plot.” Nina Ognianova of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists called for Baransu's release, saying: “A journalist’s job is to report on developments in the public interest, and it is absurd that a journalist should be prosecuted for obtaining documents which, in any case, were shared with authorities.”[16]

See also

Gülen movement

Bibliography

  • Mehmet Baransu – Tuncay Opçin (2012). Pirus (Devşirme Orduların Son Savaşı). Karakutu Yayınları. ISBN 9786051200323.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Mehmet Baransu (2010). Karargah. Karakutu Yayınları. ISBN 9786051200040.
  • Mehmet Baransu (2010). Mösyö: Hanefi Avcı’nın Yazamadıkları. Karakutu Yayınları. ISBN 9786051200163.

References

  1. ^ "Mehmet Baransu: Kürt'üm Ama". Turktime (in Turkish). 21 December 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  2. ^ idefix.com, Mehmet Baransu
  3. ^ bianet, 4 December 2009, Taraf Muhabiri Mehmet Baransu'ya Sedat Simavi Ödülü
  4. ^ Today's Zaman, 17 May 2013, TSK files complaint against Taraf's Baransu on slander charges
  5. ^ Today's Zaman, 1 January 2010, General Staff linked to attempted arrest of journalist Baransu
  6. ^ a b c d "Turkish journalist arrested over evidence in Balyoz case". Hurriyet Daily News. Mar 2, 2015.
  7. ^ Today's Zaman, 4 August 2010, Gendarmerie wiretaps journalist Baransu's wife's phone
  8. ^ Today's Zaman, 25 April 2011, Baransu invites defenders of press to today’s hearing
  9. ^ Today's Zaman, 24 May 2011, Five officers sentenced to over five years in prison each for illegally wiretapping journalist Baransu
  10. ^ Today's Zaman, 2 June 2011, Major says journalist Baransu should be executed in voice recording
  11. ^ Today's Zaman, 5 December 2010, Avcı's shady connections, tortures documented in book
  12. ^ Today's Zaman, 22 March 2012, Book: Pro-coup generals plotted to assassinate Özkök
  13. ^ odatv, 18 June 2009, MEHMET BARANSU ABD'DE 4 YIL NE YAPTI?
  14. ^ "Gülenist figure Mehmet Baransu arrested over plotting against coup suspects". Daily Sabah. Mar 1, 2015.
  15. ^ "Turkey police arrest Erdogan critic Baransu again". DW.
  16. ^ a b Greenslade, Roy (Mar 5, 2015). "Turkish journalist arrested over military coup scoop he wrote in 2010". The Guardian.

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