Detained journalist Yücel replies to minister Çavuşoğlu

Die Welt newspaper reporter Deniz Yücel, who has been in detention for ten months without an indictment having been drafted against him, has made a written statement to the press via his lawyer with reference to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's comment about him and the uniform attire implementation.

According to a report by Deutsche Welle Turkish, Yücel, who describes himself in his message as a “hostage,” remarked with reference to Çavuşoğlu's statement, “It gives me no joy, either, that there is no indictment against him” as follows, “I was very sad about this, because I do not want him to be joyless on my account. But, let him not worry. If I have got used to being held hostage without an indictment for nearly one year, he will do so, too.”

Yücel stated that he in fact found Çavuşoğlu's words to the effect that the charges against Yücel were “very serious” and his situation was “very complex” to be pleasing, and indicated, pointing to the continued existence of a secrecy order over the case, that he and his lawyers “had no knowledge of the matter.”

Yücel said, “It is most comforting to know that at least the government is aware of everything.”

“I WILL NEVER ACCEPT UNIFORM ATTIRE”

In his message, Yücel, further criticising the uniform attire implementation that will be brought into effect under Decree with the Force of Law number 696, indicated that Çavuşoğlu did not mention this point in his comments and that, as a journalist, he would never accept uniform attire.

Yücel also remarked on Çavuşoğlu's statement about him that, “He has had no accreditation as a journalist in Turkey since 2015 and so was not detained in relation to journalism.” Yücel, noting that the last time he saw Çavuşoğlu was at a joint press conference that he held with his German colleague at the time Frank-Walter Steinmeier in November 2016, commented, “He had hung his licence enabling him to be a minister around his neck. So that foreign journalists would not ask, ‘Who the heck is that man who is spouting oddities?’”

 http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/siyaset/899512/Tutuklu_gazeteci_Yucel_den_Bakan_Cavusoglu_na_yanit__O_da_alisir.html