Prosecutors have filed a case against Today's Zaman columnist Yavuz Baydar, who also writes regular columns for the Bugun daily, for allegedly "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in two of his recent columns. With the case, Baydar has joined a long list of Turkish journalists, academics and politicians who have recently been charged with insulting Erdogan, who is criticized for putting pressure on independent media to silence critics. The columnist, who is accused of insulting Erdogan in two separate columns published in the Bugün daily on Aug. 14 and 17, strongly denies the charge. Recalling that he worked as an ombudsman in 15 years of 35 years he spent as a journalist, Baydar said he did whatever he could for media ethics to prevail in the media and knows the difference between an insult and criticism very well. "I really have a hard time in understanding how they found an insult in these two columns which referred to the president as "sayın" [a word meaning esteemed or honorable but which is used to mean "mister"] and which included a critical quote," Baydar said. "We, those trying to perform their jobs in the media, are using our rights to provide information and criticize the government based on rights granted to us by the Constitution the laws and international treaties we are a party of. Being critical, questioning and warning is our professional responsibility. We will continue to criticize. Just like many other colleagues who are investigated [on the same charge], there is no intention to insult in these columns but the right to criticize was used. I am sorry. I am concerned for our country and the media," Baydar added. Baydar was fired from his long-time post at the pro-government Sabah daily in 2013, after its editorial board censored two of his columns related to the Gezi Park protests and media-government relations. The case against Baydar comes on the heels of similar legal actions taken against columnist Ertuğrul Ozkok and Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı. A probe was launched into Ozkok concerning his Thursday column, which allegedly holds President Erdoğan responsible for the death of a Syrian child that same day. In his column published on Friday in the Hürriyet daily, Ozkok denied the claims that he meant to insult Erdoğan in his piece, adding: "I have not lost my sense so as to insult the country's elected President Erdogan by calling him a 'murderer.' Erdogan's name is not used in any line of my column." Also on Friday, the Bakırkoy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into Dumanlı over accusations of insulting Erdoğan during his remarks on a TV program. The investigation is apparently a continuation of Erdoğan's and the interim Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's persistent efforts to muzzle critical elements of media outlets. During the TV broadcast Dumanlı mentioned those who staged a military coup on Sept. 12, 1980, and referenced their violent and cruel implications over the people with different ideologies who faced ill-treatment and torture in prisons designed especially for political prisoners. In his remarks, Dumanlı expressed that no form of oppression is acceptable and that the public did its part to get rid of the threat even in times of military coups. However, pro-government media spin doctors have accused Dumanlı of threatening Erdoğan in his remarks and over comments that he did not make. In its report, the pro-government Kanal 24 TV station distorted Dumanlı's words and accused him of saying that "Erdoğan will be finished regardless of whether an election is held or not." However, Dumanlı neither used Erdoğan's name nor stated anything suggesting overthrowing Erdoğan irrespective of an election; he only mentions the violent implications of the Sept. 12 military coup. In a similar case, Today's Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş was even handed down a suspended prison sentence of 21 months over a tweet that allegedly insulted Erdoğan on June 6. Kenes did not mention the president's name in his tweet. The prison sentence has attracted worldwide condemnation. More than 100 people have recently been charged and some detained after being accused of insulting Erdoğan since he was elected president in August of last year. Anti-government journalists and public figures in particular have been targeted by the police and prosecutors on the grounds that they have insulted Erdogan. These developments are widely considered a new method of intimidating political opponents who do not share the government's views. Dozens of people, including journalists Sedef Kabaş, Hidayet Karaca and Mehmet Baransu, high school students, activists and even Merve Büyüksaraç -- a former Miss Turkey, have been prosecuted for insulting Erdogan on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The law that makes insulting the president a criminal offense has become a method of intimidation against people who are vocal in their criticism of Erdogan.
