The controversial trial of staff from Turkey's main opposition newspaper accused of terror links resumed Monday, in a case which has raised alarm over press freedom under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Seventeen current and former writers, cartoonists and executives from Cumhuriyet ("Republic") are accused of supporting three "armed terrorist organisations".

They face up to 43 years in prison and four of them are already in jail.

Their supporters say the charges are absurd and the daily says the trial is an attempt to silence one of the last independent newspapers in Turkey.