Cumhuriyet CEO Atalay detained in Istanbul

By Izzet Taskiran and Emin Ileri

ISTANBUL

Istanbul police Friday detained the chief executive of Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, a police source said.

According to the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions of speaking to the media, CEO Akin Atalay was detained at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.

The source said Atalay was detained after arriving from Berlin.

An Istanbul court called for Atalay’s arrest last week, but police did not find him at home and he was said to be abroad.

Nine journalists and executives from the same newspaper were remanded in custody by a court in Istanbul last Saturday.

Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu was among those sent to prison pending trial.

The others remanded were cartoonist Haci Musa Kart and board members Ahmet Kadri Gursel, Guray Tekin Oz, Mustafa Kemal Gungor, Turhan Gunay, Hakan Karasinir, Onder Celik, and Bulent Utku.

They were among 13 arrested on Monday in a counter-terrorism investigation into the PKK and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s office.

The remaining four – directors Gunseli Ozaltay and Bulent Yener and columnists Aydin Engin and Hikmet Cetinkaya – were released on bail and barred from travelling abroad.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU and has been responsible for the deaths of more than 800 members of security forces and over 310 civilians since July last year.

FETO is said to be behind the July 15 coup attempt that saw 246 people martyred, as well as a years-long infiltration of Turkish institutions – particularly the military, police, and judiciary – to form a "parallel state."