THE TRIAL of two Turkish journalists who exposed government aid to Syrian extremists was postponed yesterday after MPs occupied the court in protest.

The first hearing in the trial of Can Dundar, editor in chief of the Kemalist-aligned Cumhurriyet daily, and the newspaper’s Ankara correspondant Erdem Gul was adjourned after opposition MPs refused to leave the room in defiance of a ruling, in response to a prosecution request, that the case be heard behind closed doors.

The Dogan news agency said the court had also accepted a petition for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) to be recognised as plaintiffs in the case.