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Turkish TV editor avoids long jail term over Ocalan comments

Turkey conducted indirect negotiations with jailed Kurdish militant Abdullah Ocalan between 2013 and 2015
— Istanbul (AFP)

A Turkish opposition TV channel editor on Wednesday walked free after being convicted in a high-profile trial over his on-air comments about jailed Kurdish insurgency leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Tele1 chief Merdan Yanardag could have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for spreading "terrorist propaganda" and "praising criminals" during one of his programmes in June.

An Istanbul court sentenced the 64-year-old to two-a-half-years in prison after finding him guilty of the propaganda charge.

But it also allowed him to walk free because Turkish jail sentences of less than three are rarely enforced.

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