OdaTV
| Format | online news |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| Political alignment | Kemalism, Secularism, Left-wing nationalism |
| Language | Turkish |
| Website | www |
odatv.com is a Turkish news website. It was founded in 2007 by Soner Yalçın and Cüneyt Özdemir; Özdemir soon left after a difference of opinion.[1] It was described in 2012 by the Committee to Protect Journalists as "an ultranationalist website harshly critical of the government".[2] Since early 2011 it is the centre of the Odatv case of the Ergenekon trials, with Odatv accused of being the "media arm" of the Ergenekon organization. Eight of its journalists are under indictment in connection with the case, which Reporters without Borders has called "absurd".[3]
Ergenekon case
In February 2011, odatv's offices were raided and some of its staff arrested (including owner Soner Yalçın and executive editor Barış Pehlivan as well as news co-ordinator Doğan Yurdakul, journalist Barış Terkoğlu and others) and accused of links with the Ergenekon organization.[1] Odatv columnists Muhammet Sait Çakır, Coşkun Musluk and Müyesser Uğur were also charged.[4]
Digital documents linking to the Ergenekon conspiracy are the basis of the case against Barış Terkoğlu, Ahmet Şık, Nedim Şener and the other detainees in the OdaTV case.[5][6] Examinations of the documents conducted by computer experts at Boğaziçi University, Yıldız Technical University, Middle East Technical University, and the American data processing company DataDevastation have refuted the validity of the documents, concluding that outside sources targeted the journalists' computers. Rare and malicious computer viruses, including Autorun-BJ and Win32:Malware-gen, allowed the placement of the documents to go unnoticed by the defendants.[7] Another judicial report prepared by the governmental agency TÜBİTAK also confirmed the infection by malicious viruses but could not confirm or reject any outside intervention.[8]
Digital forensics company Arsenal Consulting examined the OdaTV evidence and found that while the malware on Barış Pehlivan's OdaTV computer was much more interesting than known prior to Arsenal’s involvement (e.g. the Ahtapot remote access trojan never seen before “in the wild”), it was not responsible for delivery of the incriminating documents. The “Anchors in Relative Time”[9] analysis technique was used to reveal a series of local (physical access) and remote (across the Internet) attacks against his computer. The final two local attacks (on the evenings of February 9 and 11, 2011) resulted in delivery of the incriminating documents to his computer, just prior to its seizure by the Turkish National Police. Arsenal’s work has been covered by Motherboard[10] and a detailed case study[11] is under ongoing development.
References
- ^ a b Cüneyt Özdemir, Hurriyet Daily News, 15 February 2011, Soner Yalçın and the raid on 'odatv.com'
- ^ CPJ, 20 September 2012, Bewildering Odatv trial continues in Istanbul
- ^ RSF, 6 January 2012, Judicial system presses on with absurd trial of Oda TV journalists
- ^ Reporters without Borders, 14 March 2012, Four journalists released but fight goes on for dozens still held
- ^ Kenyon, Peter (2012-01-26). "For Turkish Journalists, Arrest Is A Real Danger". npr. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
- ^ "Two Investigative Journalists Threatened on Twitter". Reporters Without Borders. 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
- ^ Marpet, Joshua (2011-12-21), "ODA-TV HDD#6" (PDF), DataDevastation Report, pp. 8–17, retrieved 2012-06-03
- ^ "TÜBİTAK says can't conclude if documents in OdaTV case sent via computer virus", Today's Zaman, 2012-08-27, retrieved 2012-10-18
- ^ "Anchors in Relative Time (ART)", Digital Forensics Magazine (27), May 2016
- ^ Fiscutean, Andrada (2016-08-22). "Turkish Journalist Jailed for Terrorism Was Framed, Forensics Report Shows". vice.
- ^ "Odatv - A Case Study in Digital Forensics and Sophisticated Evidence Tampering". Retrieved 2016-11-11.