Turkish court gives jail terms to opposition journalists

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Friday issued jail terms to six journalists from an opposition newspaper accused of links to the group blamed by the government for the 2016 failed coup, a lawyer told AFP.

The court in Istanbul sentenced journalists from the Sozcu daily including columnist Emin Colasan and editor-in-chief Metin Yilmaz to prison terms ranging from two years and one month to three years and six months on terrorism charges, their lawyer Celal Ulgen said.

The nationalist Sozcu is on occasion vehemently anti-government and its angry front pages are regarded with suspicion even by some liberal Turks critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It is the second opposition daily to be targeted after Cumhuriyet newspaper.

"This is an empty case," Colasan was quoted by the paper as telling the court. "There is no evidence or witness against us."

Sozcu condemned the verdict as a "black stain", saying those convicted were only carrying out their work as journalists.