Court orders release of prominent Turkish journalist from prison pending appeal

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court on Monday ordered the release of veteran journalist Fatih Altayli from prison pending the outcome of his appeal against a conviction for allegedly threatening President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Altayli, 63, a longtime columnist whose YouTube programs drew hundreds of thousands of viewers daily, was sentenced last month to four years and two months in prison. He had been arrested in June on charges of threatening the president during one of his broadcasts — a case critics described as an attempt to silence a prominent government opponent.

The regional appeals court ruled for his release from prison, citing the absence of any flight risk, the fact that evidence had already been collected, and the time he had already spent in detention, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Altayli’s arrest stemmed from remarks on his program “Fatih Altayli Comments,” in which he discussed a survey showing more than 70% of the public opposed a lifetime presidency for Erdogan, who has ruled for over two decades. Altayli said he was not surprised by the result, noting that Turkish society favored checks on authority.

“Look at the history of this nation,” he said. “This is a nation which strangled its sultan when they didn’t like him or want him. There are quite a few Ottoman sultans who were assassinated, strangled, or whose deaths were made to look like suicide.”

Altayli has strongly denied that his comments amounted to a threat against Erdogan.

Following his arrest, he continued to provide commentary through letters relayed by his lawyers, though he later suspended the program.

With much of Turkey’s mainstream media owned by pro-government businesses or directly controlled by the state, many independent journalists have turned to YouTube as a platform for uncensored reporting.