The trial of 17 journalists that has become a symbol of the destruction of press freedom in Turkey began in Istanbul on July 24.

The journalists - reporters, editors, columnists and cartoonists from the secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper - are accused by Turkish prosecutors of targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through “assymetric war methods” on behalf of the Gulen movement which Erdogan blames for the attempted coup against him in July last year. 

But prior to the start of the trial, the journalists delivered statements outside the courthouse declaring that they are the victims of a campaign by Erdogan’s state of emergency regime aimed at crushing the free press. “I am not here because I knowingly and willingly helped a terrorist organisation, but because I am an independent, questioning and critical journalist,” Kadri Gursel, a Cumhuriyet columnist, declared. 

According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, Turkey is the world’s leading jailer of journalists. An estimated 150 members of the media are being held in its jails and scores of media outlets have been closed down in the past year.

Turkish media said the 324-page indictment against the journalists claims their newspaper was effectively taken over by US-based exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen’s movement.

Gursel had in fact been a strident critic of the Gulen movement but prosecutors now say he was a secret member of the group, the Telegraph reported. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Others, like Cumhuriyet chief executive Akin Atalay, could be sentenced to as much as 43 years in prison if found guilty.

Germany has in the past week been stepping up foreign policy pressure on Erdogan over his attitude to human rights under the long-running state of emergency that allows him to rule by decree.

The significance of this particular trial of journalists in Turkey meant its opening day was attended by foreign observers including German MEPs, the deputy head of mission for the British Consulate General in Istanbul and other European diplomats, the Telegraph added.

The newspaper quoted German MEP Rebecca Harms, a friend of Ahmet Sik, one of the journalists in the dock, as saying: "It's clearly a political trial, it's to threaten independent journalists, especially ones like Ahmet Sik. He was one of the most known investigative journalists in Turkey and he is in prison because of his investigations and because of the quality of his articles and not because he is a terrorist."

A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman said:  “We are deeply concerned by the situation of Cumhuriyet newspaper executives and journalists, including their prolonged pre-trial detention. We will be closely following legal proceedings. It is vital that Turkey upholds its obligation to respect freedom of expression and the media. This is essential to the long term health of Turkish democracy.”

Erdogan recently told the BBC his government, led by the moderately Islamist AKP party, is only interested in pursuing terrorists among the press, saying: "No-one is jailed because of journalism here".

Cumhuriyet means "Republic" in Turkish. The publication has historically defended the model of the secular Turkish republic established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern of Turkey. 

Since it was declared, the crackdown in the wake of the foiled coup has led to the arrest of about 50,000 people, the dismissal of 120,000, including judges and academics, from state institutions, and the seizure of around 965 companies with assets of roughly TRY 41bn ($11.3bn). Turkey’s state of emergency was extended by another three months on July 18.