Turkey Police Detain 2 Journalists

Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey, August 19, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey, August 19, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
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Turkey Police Detain 2 Journalists

Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey, August 19, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
Turkish police walk in front of the Metropolitan Municipality headquarters in Diyarbakir, Turkey, August 19, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkish police on Monday detained two journalists for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged “political and military espionage,” the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

The two journalists — Ismail Dukel, the Ankara representative of TELE1 television channel, and Muyesser Yildiz of the OdaTV news website — were being questioned by anti-terrorism police, the agency reported.

OdaTV said Yildiz, who has reported on military issues, was detained following a raid on her home. Police searched her house and confiscated electronic material, the website reported.

Last month, authorities charged seven journalists — including two OdaTV editors and a reporter — with violating laws governing the intelligence agency, for stories on the death of an intelligence officer who was reportedly killed in Libya.

The journalists will go on trial later this month, The Associated Press reported.

As many as 85 journalists and other media workers are currently in jail under Turkey’s broad anti-terrorism laws, according to the Turkish Journalists Syndicate, including many who were detained in a crackdown following the 2016 coup attempt.

Turkey maintains that the journalists are prosecuted for criminal acts and not for their journalistic work.



Russia’s Medvedev Warns the US: Avoid World War Three

 Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and leader of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a meeting of the United Russia party's programme commission via videoconference at the Gorki state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and leader of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a meeting of the United Russia party's programme commission via videoconference at the Gorki state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)
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Russia’s Medvedev Warns the US: Avoid World War Three

 Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and leader of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a meeting of the United Russia party's programme commission via videoconference at the Gorki state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and leader of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a meeting of the United Russia party's programme commission via videoconference at the Gorki state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP)

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official who served as Russia's president from 2008 to 2012, warned the United States on Saturday to take Russia's nuclear warnings seriously to avoid World War Three.

Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's powerful security council, told RT broadcaster that top US officials did not want World War Three but for some reason they believe "that the Russians will never cross a certain line."

"They are wrong," Medvedev told RT, adding that Moscow believed the current US and European political establishments lacked the "foresight and subtlety of mind" displayed by the late Henry Kissinger.

"If we are talking about the existence of our state, as the president of our country has repeatedly said, your humble servant has said, others have said, of course, we simply will not have any choice," Medvedev said.

The 2-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what Russian officials say is its most dangerous phase as Russian forces are advancing in eastern Ukraine and the West considers how to shore up Ukraine.

Russia has been signaling for weeks to the West that Moscow will respond if the United States and its allies help Ukraine fire longer-range missiles deep into Russia, while NATO says that North Korea has sent troops to western Russia.

Russian officials say the leaders of the West have failed to heed the signals Moscow has sent over European security and the escalation of the war in Ukraine.

US diplomats say the relationship with Russia is worse than at any time since the depths of the Cold War but that Washington does not seek to escalate the war in Ukraine.