Erdem Gül (born 1967 in

Giresun Giresun (), formerly Cerasus (Ancient Greek: Κερασοῦς, Greek: Κερασούντα), is the provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. Etymology Giresun wa ...

) is a Turkish politician serving as the current Mayor of Princes' Islands since 2019. He was the chief of the Ankara bureau of Turkish secularist newspaper '' Cumhuriyet'' between 2010 and 2018. He was arrested in November 2015 after his newspaper published footage showing the National Intelligence Organization of Turkey (MİT) sending weapons to Syrian Islamist fighters. Gül studied journalism at Gazi University. He started his career at the

ANKA Anka may refer to: * Anka (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Anka, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Zamfara State * Angströmquelle Karlsruhe (ANKA), a synchrotron facility at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ...

news agency in 1992, where he monitored the rise of Necmettin Erbakan's

Millî Görüş Millî Görüş (, "National Outlook" or "National Vision") is a religious-political movement and a series of Islamist parties inspired by Necmettin Erbakan. It argues that Turkey can develop with its own human and economic power by protecting ...

movement since the 1994 local elections, where Erbakan's Welfare Party won the mayorship in both Ankara and Istanbul. In 2010, he became parliament reporter for '' Cumhuriyet''. In November 2015, ''Cumhuriyet'' was awarded the 2015

Reporters Without Borders Prize Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

for its "independent and courageous journalism." Shortly thereafter, Gül and the newspaper's

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

Can Dündar Can Dündar (, born 16 June 1961) is a Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian. Editor-in-chief of center-left ''Cumhuriyet'' newspaper until August 2016, he was arrested in November 2015 after his newspaper published footage showing the ...

were arrested on charges of being members of a terror organization, espionage and revealing confidential documents, facing sentences of up to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. The investigations had been launched in May, after the newspaper published photos depicting weapons transferred to Syria in trucks of the

National Intelligence Organization The National Intelligence Organization ( tr, Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) is the state intelligence agency of Turkey. Established in 1965 to replace National Security Service, its aim is to gather information about the current and po ...

, subject of the

MİT trucks scandal The National Intelligence Organization ( tr, Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) is the state intelligence agency of Turkey. Established in 1965 to replace National Security Service, its aim is to gather information about the current and po ...

. In June 2015, Turkish President Erdoğan had publicly targeted Dündar, stating: "The individual who reported this as an exclusive story will pay a heavy price for this." After 92 days in prison, Dündar and Gül were released on 26 February 2016 after the Constitutional Court decided that their detention was a violation of their rights. Gül was elected as the new mayor of Princes' Islands in

2019 Turkish local elections The Turkish local elections of 2019 were held on Sunday 31 March 2019 throughout the 81 provinces of Turkey. A total of 30 metropolitan and 1,351 district municipal mayors, alongside 1,251 provincial and 20,500 municipal councillors were elected, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gul, Erdem 1967 births Living people People from Giresun Gazi University alumni 21st-century Turkish journalists Mass media freedom in Turkey Mayors of places in Turkey Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians