ISTANBUL: Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Istanbul office of an opposition newspaper on Friday, accusing the government of silencing critics and attempting to cover-up a scandal after two journalists were jailed on terror and espionage charges for their reports on alleged Turkish arms smuggling to Syria. Cumhuriyet newspaper’s editor-in-chief Can Dundar, and the paper’s Ankara representative, Erdem Gul, were sent to a prison in Istanbul late on Thursday, accused of willingly aiding a terror organisation and revealing state secrets. The incident comes amid deepening concerns about media freedom in Turkey, which aspires to join the European Union.