A Turkish journalist known to be critical of the government is to be released by order of a court in Ankara. Müyesser Yildiz, editor-in-chief at the oppositionist Oda TV, was detained in June.

 

Yildiz was accused of disclosing state military secrets for reporting alleged meetings between top Turkish soldiers and Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who is backed by Ankara. She still has to report to the police regularly, said Amnesty International.

Another journalist who was arrested for more or less the same suspicions was released earlier. An army officer who allegedly gave Yildiz confidential information about Turkish military activities in Libya and Syria is still in prison.

The Public Prosecution Service has demanded punishments between six and more than seventeen years against the three, according to state news agency Anadolu.

The Turkish government does not tolerate much journalistic research into the activities of the army. In 2016, prominent journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül were sentenced to five years and ten months in prison for leaking state secrets.

They were accused of espionage, attempting to overthrow the government and support a terrorist organization after revelations about Turkish arms transfers to rebels in Syria.