Turkish prosecutor calls for acquittal of Dutch journalist

A Turkish prosecutor on Wednesday requested the acquittal of a Dutch journalist specialising in Kurdish issues who was accused of spreading "terrorist propaganda" for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"No evidence has been found on the suspect carrying or hanging the pictures, signs or logo of the terrorist organisation or wearing a uniform that carries those," the prosecutor said, according to Reuters.

Frederike Geerdink, who is based in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Diyarbakir, had been briefly detained in January after authorities raided her home.

She was then charged with publishing material in support of the PKK, charges that could have seen her jailed for up to five years and sparked international concern.

However as the trial got underway at a Diyarbakir criminal court, prosecutors immediately asked for an acquittal of Geerdink and the hearing was adjourned after just one hour.

The "prosecutor just pleaded for my acquittal", Geerdink wrote on Twitter, in comments confirmed by Turkish news reports. She added her lawyer was satisfied with the prosecutor's move.

The judge, who now is widely expected to acquit the reporter, will read the final verdict on Monday.

"I am not guilty of anything, I have not made any propaganda and I know this very well," Geerdink told reporters after the hearing.

"That is why I felt very strong from the start and still feel very strong," she added. "The judge is going to take a good decision on Monday but this trial should still not have taken place."

The case against her highlighted concerns about press freedom in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where a host of public figures are facing legal proceedings on charges of insulting the president.

Geerdink said ahead of the trial opening that she was not sure why the charges had been laid against her but was confident of being acquitted.

"What I have written cannot in any way be considered propaganda. The accusations are very random. I could not have been any more meticulous in my work," she told AFP.

Geerdink, who moved to Turkey in 2006, has been based in Diyarbakir since 2012 and specialises in writing about the Kurds. 

Her articles have been published in Dutch and English-language media and also the anti-government Turkish news website Diken.

The case also came as the government and Kurdish leaders are seeking to end the decades-long insurgency in the southeast by the PKK for self-rule and greater rights for Kurds that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Erdogan on Wednesday launched one of his bitterest tirades against media, accusing the press of being an accomplice in the killing of a prosecutor in Istanbul last week.

"To me, those organisations which opened up their pages and screens to these terrorists have become partners in the martyring of our prosecutor," Reuters quoted Erdogan as saying.

Also Wednesday, Turkish prosecutors called for two prominent journalists who featured Charlie Hebdo's cover with the image of the Prophet Mohammed in their columns to be jailed for four and a half years.

Istanbul's chief public prosecutor has charged Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Cetinkaya with "inciting public hatred" and "insulting religious values" by illustrating their columns with the cartoon, the Hurriyet daily reported.

The cartoon was a smaller version of the controversial front cover depicting the Prophet Mohammed that French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo printed in its first edition after the attack on its offices by gunmen in January that killed 12 people.

"It is not possible to imagine the consequences of the publication of the same cartoons in Turkey, where most people are Muslims, following such an incident in France," the indictment read, according to The Anadolu Agency.