Conspiratorial report against Ahmet Şık: For God’s sake investigate

KEMAL GÖKTAŞ

When we got through by phone to the person indicated in the file to be the informer, Anadolu Agency reporter K.K, the ‘reporter’ first said, ‘I don’t remember’ and then ‘It wasn’t me.’ On being reminded of the information in the file, he said that he couldn’t speak without permission from his managers.

It has emerged in a file relating to Ahmet Şık, our paper’s reporter who has been detained on account of his social media posts, that there are official records indicating Anadolu Agency reporter K.K. reported Ahmet Şık for his messages at his Twitter account. K.K, whom Cumhuriyet reached by telephone, initially said, ‘I don’t remember. I didn’t do it.’ On my reminding him that, if so, we would write that a false accusation was involved, he said, ‘I’ll speak to the agency managers and call’ but did not get back.
According to documents in the investigation file, AA reporter K.K. reported Ahmet Şık’s Twitter account to the Prime Ministry Communication Centre (BİMER) on 28 November 2015. K.K.’s report read, ‘I request that tweets sent by the person named Ahmet Şık who describes himself as being a journalist on Twitter where he has a social media account and whose email address is xxxxxxyandex.com be looked into, because the man is publicly threatening the state and I think he is posting content in support of terrorism. For God’s sake, investigate the person with the user name sahmetsahmet.’
After K.K. had made this report, an investigation was launched into Şık in Gaziantep, where the informer lives. Gaziantep Police Directorate Cybercrime Branch Directorate compiled a report on the grounds that Ahmet Şık’s messages about Tahir Elçi’s murder, the investigation initiated into comments made by teacher Ayşe Çelik on a phone link to Kanal D and the Academics for Peace constituted elements of crimes. On the public prosecution issuing a non-jurisdiction ruling, the file was later sent to Istanbul. Şık was interrogated at Istanbul Republic Prosecution on 7 November 2016 as part of an investigation launched into the offence of making propaganda for a terrorist organisation. Şık said that the Twitter account was his and that the posts giving rise to the accusation were in the realm of freedom of expression. Şık, who denied the accusation, said, ‘These posts are comments I made in the interests of a solution through peaceful means.’ Şık’s lawyer Can Atalay also said, ‘My client is a journalist. He has expressed his sorrow, opinion and criticisms about what is going on in the country. The elements of the crime of which he is accused have not been constituted. We seek the rendering of a decision that there are no grounds for prosecution.’
Clear-cut reply evaded
K.K., thanks to whom the investigation into Şık was launched, agrees that the Republic of Turkey identification number, home address and telephone number in Prime Ministry Communication Centre records are his. When we got through to him on the phone, K.K. initially said that he could not remember whether he made such a report and then alleged that the report was not filed by him. On my reminding him that, if so, it would appear that a false accusation had been made in his name, K.K. said that he could not speak without the permission of management of Anadolu Agency, where he works. K.K., who evaded giving a clear-cut reply despite my persistence and said he would call after having spoken to his managers, has not got back to our paper.