Füsun Erdoğan (born 4 September 1960[1]) is a radio journalist from Turkey that was sentenced to prison during Operation Gaye.
She was accused of involvement in a banned organization, the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (MKLP), under the Anti-Terror Law of Turkey.
[4][5][6] She claims that she was targeted due to her political opinions and her status as a journalist, stating that the "police was trying to intimidate members of the progressive, independent, democratic and alternative media.
She and multiple human rights organizations believe she was targeted for political reasons and part of Turkey's wave of imprisoning journalists.
They brought her to a two-story house and shoved her down, harming her knees and elbows when she refused to lie down with the other captured people.
They took her to a police station in Nazilli, and there she was made to sleep on a wooden bench with a handcuff on one arm.
[4] After her arrest, others were investigated for having connections to either her or Özgür Radyo, such as her husband, nephew, and even cleaning staff at the radio.
[5] On 26 October 2007, it was announced at the Istanbul 10th Heavy Penal Court that she and the others she was detained with would continue to be held in pre-trial detention.
[12][4] She explained that at her hearings, the prosecutor would extend her detention using a "cliché like 'based on type of crime and the state of evidence'".
She was detained because of accusations that she was a member of the MKLP, which had been declared a terrorist organization, along with Ibrahim Çiçek, Bayram Namaz, Sedat Senoglu, and Ziya Ulusoy.
[12] The official indictment reads that she is accused of having:[4]… attempted to change the constitutional order by force; being an administrator and also the member of central committee; being responsible for the finances and legal activities of the illegal organization; therefore, being responsible as if a principle offender for all the crimes committed by the organization and its other members according to the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) 220/5 inches (13 cm) connection with TCK 314/3.Erdoğan notes that she examined all the thousands of pages regarding her case searching for tangible evidence, but found "no evidence showing that I prepared these pages, or no wet signature or fingerprints found to be belonging to me."
[4] Turkey's EU Minister, Egemen Bağış, sent a letter to Swedish parliamentarians stating that Erdoğan was a "bomber" who "assaulted people".
She urged him to show evidence of these claims, and wrote "Whenever the problem of jailed journalists is brought to public attention, it is a well-known fact that officials especially PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are distorting information.
[2][6] Her treatment, along with that of other jailed journalists in Turkey, has also been criticized by Reporters Without Borders and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Her son, Aktaş Erdoğan, went on a hunger strike for three days, beginning at the Dutch Parliament, to protest his mother's imprisonment.
[8] Due to the fact that she is not only a citizen of Turkey, but also the Netherlands, the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) also advocated for her.