More journalists detained in Turkey
Further concerns about press freedom
The escalating threats to press freedom and ability of the media to carry out their work freely in Turkey has been highlighted after four journalists were detained in police raids and two others sentenced to prison.
Freelance journalist Elif Akgül, writer and TV commentator Ercüment Akdeniz, editor-in-chief of the LGBTQ+ publication KAOS GL Yıldız Tar and journalist Ender İmre were taken into custody and were banned from seeing their lawyers for 24 hours.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that the detentions were part of a broader operation targeting the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK), a pro-Kurdish political movement.
The NUJ joins the International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and their Turkish affiliates, DİSK Basın-İş Sendikası and Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikasi (TGS), in condemning the detentions and urging the authorities to stop prosecuting journalists.
The detentions took place on 18 February and Akgül and Tar’s were extended until the following day. According to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) police questioned Tar about her personal social media accounts, union and association memberships, civil society activities and phone calls made in 2012 and 2013.
Adding to the grim news for press freedom in Turkey, Ozan Kaplanoğlu, the editor-in-chief of Bursa Muhalif newspaper, a local outlet based in northwestern Turkey, has been sent to prison after being convicted of insulting then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a protest in December 2013. Kaplanoğlu was sent to prison after a conditional release decision was revoked.
Also, journalist Beritan Canözer was sentenced to one year and three months in prison on charges of "making propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. Canözer was tried in connection with social media posts that she had published in 2015.
These latest moves come as the IFJ reported that in January 2025 alone, at least nine journalists were arrested, six were sentenced to prison, five were detained, 23 faced investigations and one encountered police obstruction.
On 5 February, the IFJ and 14 other international press and human rights organisations signed a statement which expressed serious concern at the escalation of press freedom violations and at the fact that journalists’ rights are being violated, which have marked a troubling start to 2025.
“This is part of a troubling pattern of press suppression,” the statement read, noting that in the month of January alone 18 journalists were detained, nine of whom were arrested. In the first two weeks of February, at least six journalists covering protests in Van were also taken into custody.
The NUJ echoes the IFJ and EFJ’s comments:
“Türkiye's authoritarian drift and its continued violations of press freedom and journalists' rights are extremely worrying. We urge the authorities to end the oppression and unjust detentions of journalists and to ensure that its practices align with international standards for the protection of freedom of expression and press freedom. The IFJ and the EFJ express their solidarity with detained journalists and demand their immediate and unconditional release.”