Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc spoke out against the detention of Turkish journalists and called for their release. "I do not know if there is any serious evidence of guilt or how serious it is. Detention should be an exceptional case, it is prohibited to deprive a person of liberty without good reason even if it is for just one day. From the point of view of the Turkish public, and for humanitarian reasons, it would be better to conduct an investigation without detention," RIA Novosti quoted Arinc.
On Sunday, on suspicion of involvement in anti-government conspiracy, 29 people were detained in Turkey, among them the editor-in-chief of the major newspaper Zaman, Ekrem Dumanly, and the head of the Samanyolu Media Group, Hidayet Karaca. Some of the detainees were later released. This Friday the court shall consider the petition of the Prosecutor's Office to arrest 12 people.
