Editor’s note: On May 22, Öznur Değer was released under a travel ban and judicial control until her next hearing on October 21.
Istanbul, May 21, 2025—Turkish authorities should release Öznur Değer ahead of her trial on Thursday and stop conflating reporting on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with publishing propaganda for the outlawed group, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
“The prosecution of Öznur Değer is yet another example of the witch hunt against critical journalists in Turkey. Reporting on sensitive issues does not equate with promoting violence,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities should quickly free Değer, drop the charge against her, and put an end to such vindictive prosecutions.”
Değer, news director for the pro-Kurdish site JİNNEWS, was taken into police custody during a February 7 raid on her home in the southeastern city of Mardin and put under arrest by a court.
The court subsequently charged her with making propaganda for the PKK, which Turkey recognizes as a terrorist organization.
The PKK, which has been fighting Turkish security forces since 1984, announced in May that it was planning to disband as part of a new peace process.
In the four-page indictment, reviewed by CPJ, prosecutors said PKK-related news, photographs, and videos that Değer posted on the social media platform X between 2021 and 2024 were terrorism propaganda.
The indictment also said Değer was under investigation for “insulting a public officer,” who filed a complaint about comments Değer made at a funeral wake in December.
Değer is appealing a sentence of six years and three months issued against her and seven other journalists in June 2024 for membership of a terrorist organization. She spent almost seven months in jail, from October 2022 to May 2023, awaiting trial.
CPJ’s email requesting comment from the chief prosecutor’s office in Mardin did not receive a reply.