'It's an important time, for all of Europe, not to close their eyes to what's happening in Turkey'

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00:00In Turkey, it's been a week since protests erupted over the arrest of opposition leader

00:07Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, who is charged with corruption and abetting terrorism.

00:17That has sparked the biggest mass demonstrations in more than a decade.

00:23This

00:38co-director of the Media and Law Studies Association, seven journalists including an AFP photojournalist

00:45currently behind bars.

00:48Thank you for speaking with us here on France 24.

00:52Thank you for having me, indeed.

00:54Seven journalists were detained on the 24th in early morning raids from their homes for

01:00covering these protests.

01:01One was detained actually at the protest and the other six were detained at 6 a.m. early

01:08morning raids, including one, and this is a mixed group of journalists.

01:12They're overwhelmingly photojournalists, and which shows that, as you suggested, there's

01:18also bans on coverage.

01:20And we have two world-renowned photojournalists, including Yasin Akgül, AFP's photojournalist.

01:29We have photojournalists working for two municipalities, and we have a reporter from Now TV, which

01:36can be considered a mainstream channel.

01:40And they were kept overnight in detention, and they're charged with breaking Turkey's

01:47law on protests, 29-11, which is used extensively against journalists in Turkey covering events.

01:56However, it's almost unheard of that anybody has been arrested over it, and most of the

02:00charges, if they turn into cases, actually end in, almost all of them end in acquittals.

02:06However, in this case, on the 25th, when they were taken to the courthouse, we are also

02:16defending three of the journalists, including AFP's Yasin Akgül.

02:22Around 11, towards noon, they said all of the journalists will be released.

02:27There were lists on the wall.

02:30They had their names on a piece of paper that the police officers had put up there.

02:36They were taken with a number of more than 200 other demonstrators, and they were going

02:42to be released.

02:43But just as they were going to be released, and very abruptly, the prosecutor changed

02:48their opinion, and they referred them to court for being put under arrest, under 29-11, which

02:55is the law on demonstrations and public gatherings.

03:00So that is one question.

03:01How did that happen?

03:02What was the motivation behind this change of heart that happened at the courthouse?

03:07This is-

03:08What's your explanation for that?

03:11Well, obviously, this is an answer the Turkish judicial authorities, the ministry, should

03:18give, and they owe us that.

03:19But it's very interesting, and it creates the appearance of an interference in the process

03:25that actually had come to a close.

03:29So it appears to be more than a change of mind, and it's no secret that Turkey's judicial

03:36independence in Turkey has been undermined for a long time, over the past decade or so.

03:42Now, as you mentioned, Evin, this is nothing new in Turkey.

03:48Is it different this time, when you see the scale, the size of these demonstrations?

03:59This is a good question.

04:00So a lot of analysts and a lot of observers and a lot of citizens here believe that this

04:04is a new level in terms of Turkey's, you know, the backslide in Turkish democracy.

04:11And because this is the first time we're seeing, you know, at Imamoglu, Erdogan's number one

04:18rival, who's won against him actually in Istanbul three times and who was set to win if he could

04:25ever be a presidential candidate.

04:26So that had not happened before in Turkey.

04:29It's unprecedented.

04:31And also, you know, appointing these trustees that are appointed by the government to non-Kurdish

04:36municipalities is also new.

04:39But on the other hand, as you said, this is nothing new.

04:44Journalists have been meeting, you know, police violence and arrests and trials, terrorism

04:50charges over their news reports.

04:54Since last year's elections, local elections in March, 13 municipalities have been appointing

04:59these trustees.

05:01So time will show if things will worsen or will normalize.

05:06But many analysts do see that as a new level.

05:10Have you and the attorneys been able to speak to their clients?

05:15Right.

05:16So today they were brought to Metris prison and they couldn't.

05:20Actually two of our clients are now at Metris prison.

05:23There are a lot of lines.

05:25But in terms of Yasin Akgül, who was defended by MLSA, he was in good spirits and he had

05:31a very high morale.

05:32I just wanted to say that yesterday.

05:35And there's actually been some good news that we're actually now, again, very abruptly waiting

05:40for the expecting them to be released, because today, again, in the afternoon, the justice

05:47minister said they would be looking into the case of the journalists and they would be

05:51correcting if a mistake was made.

05:54And my understanding is that some back channel dialogue took place with the judicial authorities.

06:04And now we also have two other clients, including former AFP photojournalist, Bilal Kılıç,

06:10who was in prison.

06:11And we have, our lawyers have filed objections today very swiftly.

06:15And I know that the lawyers representing the other four have also submitted objections

06:21until 5 p.m. today.

06:23And so the justice minister has toned down a little bit.

06:27We understand there's been some back channel dialogue and we're hoping that they might

06:31be released soon.

06:32There's been a formal complaint lodged by France.

06:36Does foreign pressure matter at this moment in time when Recep Tayyip Erdogan is having

06:43this showdown with his most formidable opposition foe?

06:50Right.

06:52Is that, can you repeat the question?

06:54Sorry.

06:55Does foreign pressure matter at this point in time?

06:58Yeah.

06:59This is also, I think this is a very important, not just for France, but from all of Europe,

07:04it's an important time to not close eyes to what's going on in Turkey, especially after

07:10Imamoglu's arrest, which many, as I said, deem to be potentially a new level of increasing

07:17authoritarianism on this part of the government.

07:19And in the past, many right activists here believe that, and I believe they're partially

07:24right that European, the EU has closed eyes to some very open violations of democratic

07:33rights due to the so-called refugee deal and other expectations from Turkey.

07:41And so I think it is a good time for changing that attitude for France and any other country.

07:47And I really believe that foreign pressure could help at this time.

07:53Evin Baris Altintas, many thanks for speaking with us from Turkey.

07:58Again, you're saying that there's hope that those seven journalists could be released

08:04on Thursday morning.

08:08Thanks for having me.

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