Nokta

History and profile

The magazine was launched by Ercan Arıklı on 1 March 1982 as Nokta ve İnsanlar. It became Nokta in 1983. The magazine had a liberal and progressive stance during the Ercan Arıklı period and In 1989 it was the highest-circulation news weekly in Turkey, ahead of 2000'e Doğru.

In March 2007, Nokta ran a story, written by its Editor in Chief, Ahmet Alper Görmüş, revealing a confidential campaign of the military blacklisting some journalists and press organs, based on a leaked report prepared by the Office of the Chief of General Staff categorizing journalists as "trustworthy" (pro military) and "untrustworthy" (anti military). While the military acknowledged the existence of such a list, they declared that the version published by Nokta was "only a draft". Metehan Demir of Sabah newspaper argued that Noktas report did not conform to the format used by the military.

Later that month, Nokta published excerpts of a diary, allegedly written by admiral Özden Örnek, a former navy commander. The diary detailed two plans for a military coup, both by the commanders of the army (Aytaç Yalman), navy (Özden Örnek) and the air force (İbrahim Fırtına), together with the gendarmerie chief (Şener Eruygur), and aiming to overthrow the AK Party government in 2004.

Subsequently, its owner, Ayhan Durgun, discontinued the publication.

In 2007, Nokta published portions of a diary purportedly belonging to the retired admiral Özden Örnek, indicating that three coup plans were prepared: Sarıkız (blonde girl; idiomatic for 'cow'), Ayışığı (moonlight), and Eldiven (glove). Admiral Örnek himself called the diary a forgery. The Armed Forces prevaricated on this issue without denying its authenticity altogether. For his part, general Hurşit Tolon said he found no reason to object to the publication of the diaries since it contained no false statements about him. The diary was not used as evidence in the 2455 page indictment.

The diary agrees with minutes of the meeting on which the diary was based. The minutes were found in the home of retired captain Muzaffer Yıldırım who, along with Tolon and Eruygur, was detained in the frame of an investigation into a conspiratorial organization named "Ergenekon".

These excerpts were later cited as key evidence in the March 2009 indictment of a round of suspects, including retired generals Eruygur and Tolon, arrested in the course of the ongoing investigations into the alleged illegal Ergenekon organization and charged with plotting to overthrow the legal government of the Republic of Turkey.

2015 Revival

In 2015 Ramazan Köse revived the magazine.

Cevheri Güven and Murat Çapan were sentenced to 22.5 years

Cevheri Güven, editor-in-chief of Nokta magazine, and Murat Çapan, Editor-in-Chief, were sentenced to 22.5 years in prison each by the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court on 22 May 2017. Güven and Çapan were accused of 'trying to start a civil war in Turkey' because of the news that Turkey could be dragged into a civil war due to Erdogan's tension policies. Güven and Çapan, who stayed in Silivri Prison for two months in 2015, were then released pending trial.

After the release, the court board was disbanded, and the lawyer of Nokta magazine, Kadir Kökten, was arrested. Bünyamin Karakaş, one of the judges of the court, was arrested. The newly appointed court board sentenced the two journalists to 22.5 years in prison separately.

The case in which Murat Çapan was tried was overturned in the Court of Appeal in procedural terms. Capan was tried again and his sentence was increased to 25 years by the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court.

Murat Capan, responsible editor-in-chief of Nokta magazine, went to Greece on May 24, 2017, two days after his 22.5-year prison sentence and applied for asylum. However, he was thrown back to Turkey from the border of Dimetoka by the Greek border security police. Capan was captured and arrested by the Turkish Gendarmerie on the Turkish border. Human Rights Associations and the United Nations reacted to Greece because of this practice. The issue caused great controversy in Greece. The Potami Party filed a criminal complaint against the Syriza government. In addition, the Greek Human Rights Association filed a criminal complaint against the police officers who sent Murat Capan back despite his asylum.

Capan is still in prison.

Cevheri Güven, on the other hand, left Turkey illegally with her family. He still lives in Europe. Due to a satirical cover image critical of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for inciting and exploiting the conflict and its casualties for personal political PR purposes, the magazine was raided by the police and its 18. edition in September 2015 was banned and the entire circulation confiscated for allegedly "insulting" Erdoğan.

The magazine is closed

The magazine was closed in July 2016. In May 2017, the last editor-in-chief Murat Çapan was sentenced to over 22 years in jail for allegedly "inciting an armed uprising against the Turkish government" and was arrested while attempting to flee to neighboring Greece.

References

References

1. [http://www.todayszaman.com/news-188199-owner-of-now-defunct-nokta-magazine-durgun-we-did-a-historic-job.html Owner of now-defunct Nokta magazine Durgun: We did a historic job] ''Today's Zaman'', 28 September 2009.
2. Emin Akdağ. (5 July 2004). "Darbe ile başladı, değişimle noktalandı". Aksiyon.
3. Doğan Gürpınar. (2012). "The Trajectory of Left-Liberalism in Turkey and Its Nemesis: The Great Rupture in the Turkish Left". Insight Turkey.
4. Lois Whitman, Thomas Froncek. (1989). [https://books.google.com/books?id=kvYmkcILrysC&pg=PA30 Paying the Price: Freedom of Expression in Turkey]. Human Rights Watch, 1989. pp. 30-32
5. (9 March 2007). "New military media scandal exposed". Today's Zaman.
6. (21 April 2007). "Magazine that revealed 'coups' ends publication". Today's Zaman.
7. Metehan Demir. (11 March 2007). "Medya andıcı korsan çıktı". Sabah.
8. (14 April 2007). "Nokta magazine raided by police". [[Turkish Daily News]].
9. Mavioglu, Ertugrul. (15 November 2008). "2003 was a year of coup plans, shows report". Turkish Daily News.
10. Alaz Kuzeyri. (2 July 2008). "Ümraniye'den Sarıkız'a". Taraf.
11. Ahmet Alper Görmüş. (29 March 2007). "Geçmiş günler, geçmemiş gündemler". Nokta.
12. Ismet Berkan. (1 July 2008). "Sarıkız ve Ayışığı'nı hatırlayalım". Radikal.
13. Ahmet Alper Görmüş. "Üç Genelkurmay belgesi, üç farklı tepki". Taraf]date=27 June 2008.
14. Nurettin Kurt. (8 July 2008). "Arşivinde Yaşar Paşa belgeleri". Hürriyet.
15. Mehmet Baransu. (26 March 2008). "Darbe belgelendi". Taraf.
16. Nicholas Birch. (25 March 2009). "Turkish Court Indicts 56 on Coup Charges". The Wall Street Journal.
17. (28 July 2016). "Kapatılan televizyonlar ve gazeteler belli oldu!". Hürriyet.
18. (25 May 2017). "Former editor of Turkish news magazine arrested trying to flee to Greece". Hurriyet Daily News.