The well-known Turkish opposition politician Eren Erdem has been released after about six months in custody. This was decided by the news agencies Anadolu and DHA today in Istanbul. The trial against Erdem – an ex-member of the Kemalist opposition party CHP and vice-chairman of the faction in Istanbul – continues, however.
He faces up to 19 years imprisonment. The prosecutor accuses him of „supporting an armed organization“. This refers to the movement of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government blames for the 2016 coup attempt.
Erdem, who has been issued with an exit ban, is known as the sharp critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Shortly after the parliamentary and presidential elections, the police had picked him up in front of his apartment in Ankara at the end of June. The news agency DHA had reported back then, the prosecutor in Istanbul investigate against Erdem because of his former role as editor-in-chief of the government-critical newspaper „Karsi Gazete“ („Gegen-Zeitung“).
