The court ruled that Ozan Kilinc had "disseminated the propaganda of a terrorist organization" by publishing reports and pictures on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its jailed leader in 12 separate issues of the Azadiya Welat (Independence of Homeland) daily in June last year.

Kilinc, who also owns the newspaper, was found guilty of "committing a crime on behalf of the terrorist organization." The judges issued an arrest warrant for the editor, who was not present in the courtroom.

Founded in 1994 as a weekly which turned into a daily in 2006, Azadiya Welat has often been the target of judicial action on grounds that it is a mouthpiece for the PKK, which has led a bloody 25-year rebellion against Ankara.

The paper's previous editor-in-chief, Vedat Kursun, has been in jail for the past 13 months while being tried for spreading rebel propaganda, praising criminals and aiding and abetting rebels, according to Bianet, a civic body defending freedom of expression.

The PKK -- blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Turkey and the international community -- picked up arms against Ankara in 1984 for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.

In August, the Turkish government announced the first steps of a plan to expand Kurdish freedoms with the hope of ending the PKK insurgency.

Although the drive faltered amid a ban on the country's main Kurdish party, street protests and PKK violence, Ankara has vowed to push ahead with the reforms.