Turkish opposition journalist Can Dundar escaped a shooting today outside the courthouse in Istanbul where he is on trial on charges of revealing state secrets.
Brandishing a pistol, the attacker fired several times before being detained by police, an AFP reporter said. Dundar, the editor-in-chief of leading Turkish opposition daily Cumhuriyet, was unharmed.
Dundar was outside the courthouse during a break as the court prepared to deliver its verdict in his trial for allegedly revealing state secrets in a newspaper story.
The assailant fired twice or three times in front of the cameras of media who had crowded outside Istanbul's main courthouse during the closed door trial.
NTV television reported that its reporter Yagiz Senkal was lightly injured because of the ricocheting bullets.
"I am okay ... The court was in a break to deliver a verdict. The attack occurred after we went out to wait for the ruling," Dundar said.
"I don't know who or what it is. I only saw the gun had been pointed at me," he added.
Dundar and Erdem Gul, his Ankara bureau chief, are charged with revealing state secrets over a story accusing the government of seeking to illicitly deliver arms bound for Syria.
Cumhuriyet's report on a shipment of arms intercepted at the Syrian border in January 2014 sparked a furore when it was published last May, fuelling speculation about Turkey's role in the Syrian conflict and its alleged ties to Islamist groups in the country.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted furiously to the allegations, personally warning Dundar he would "pay a heavy price".
Accusing Erdogan and pro-government media of whipping up a climate of hatred against him, Dundar said: "We know very well who showed me as a target.
