An Istanbul court has ordered prominent Turkish journalist Ismail Saymaz to be placed under house arrest in an investigation related to the 2013 nationwide protests.
Saymaz, who works for the television station "Halk TV", was initially arrested on Wednesday on charges of helping to overthrow the government during protests in 2013, Reuters reported.
He was arrested when Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a main rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was also arrested on charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist group.
In 2013, small demonstrations against plans to build a shopping mall in Gezi Park, in the heart of Istanbul's Taksim district, turned into protests with hundreds of thousands of people marching against the government - and prompted a harsh response from the authorities.
Halk TV reported that prosecutors have questioned Saymaz about social media posts and messages with defendants in the Gezi Park trial, including businessman Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2022. Kavala faced several charges, including espionage, financing the Gezi Park protests and involvement in a failed coup against Erdogan's government in 2016.
Saymaz has denied the allegations and said that all of his calls and messages were related to journalism.
Human rights groups have said that 11 people were killed and over 8,000 injured in the state's response to the protests, and over 3,000 were arrested.