Turkish journalist arrested ‘over tweet’

Prominent Turkish investigative journalist Ahmet Sik has been arrested by Istanbul police in connection with his social media postings.

Sik confirmed his arrest in a tweet, saying: “I am being detained. I will be taken to the prosecutor’s office regarding a tweet.”

Reports claim that he has been accused of spreading "terrorist propaganda".

The authorities had banned Sik's book The Imam's Army, which examined the life and work of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric blamed by the Turkish government for the July coup attempt. However, a version of the book was however published in November 2011.

His arrest came shortly before writer Asli Erdogan and linguist Necmiye Alpay went on trial in a Turkish court as part of a police probe into the now closed pro-Turkish newspaper Ozgur Gundem.  

The authorities regard Ozgur Gundem as a mouthpiece for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for more Kurdish autonomy in Turkey. Turkey and its Western allies regard the PKK as a terrorist organisation.

Several writers and journalists have been arrested by Turkish police since last July’s failed coup attempt, in which military rebels tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.