Turkey detains opposition newspaper editor

ISTANBUL – Turkish police on Friday detained the editor of a leading opposition newspaper for questioning over an article he wrote.

Oguz Guven, the editor of pro-secular Cumhuriyet newspaper’s online edition, tweeted Friday “I’m being detained.”

The state-run Anadolu news agency said Guven was taken under custody for a news article on the death of prosecutor Mustafa Alper in a traffic accident Wednesday. Details about the article in question have not been released.

Alper, chief prosecutor of Denizli province in southwest Turkey, filed the first indictment against the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen following last summer’s coup attempt.

The Turkish government blames Gulen for orchestrating the coup, which he denies.

Twelve journalists and senior staff members of Cumhuriyet are also behind bars pending trial on “aiding terrorist organizations.”

Meanwhile, authorities also detained a writer and television commentator days after he claimed on a TV channel that one of the adopted daughters of Turkey’s revered founding leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was in fact his mistress — sparking outrage in the country.

Prosecutors issued a warrant for Suleyman Yesilyurt’ arrest accusing him of insulting Ataturk this week. Accompanied by lawyers, he arrived at the office of a prosecutor in Istanbul and a court later ordered him detained on charges of “insulting Ataturk’s memory” and of “inciting hatred and enmity.”

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and several celebrities were among those who condemned Yesilyurt’s comments.