Istanbul, July 8, 2026—Turkey should put an end to arbitrary detentions and arrests of journalists following the recent detaining of at least 11 members of the press ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
Three of the journalists who were taken into police custody in Turkey between June 23 and July 7 remained behind bars at the time of publishing, with two of them having been arrested. Some were apprehended in the scope of sweeping preliminary police operations ahead of the July 7-8 summit, while others appear to be isolated cases.
“Whether or not the NATO summit is being used as an excuse, the detention or arrest in Turkey of nearly a dozen journalists in the past two weeks is unacceptable and unexplainable,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities should release all remaining journalists behind bars who were imprisoned for doing their jobs, reform the disinformation law, and stop these arbitrary detentions and arrests.”
The 2022 disinformation law dictates that anyone found guilty of publicly spreading false information in order to cause concern, fear, or panic will face a sentence of one to three years in prison. While supporters of the legislation at the time it was introduced offered reassurances that the law would not be used against journalists, it has since become one of the most frequently used laws against the media.
The detentions and arrests include:
- Doğa Baskan, a reporter for the leftist daily Evrensel, was arrested by a court in Ankara on June 25 with the suspicion of “publicly spreading disinformation,” due to a story that was published online without editorial approval and immediately taken down. She was released pending trial on June 26.
- Ali Çağatay, a radio host for Sputnik Turkey, the Turkish arm of Russian state-funded news outlet Sputnik, was detained on June 25 and arrested pending trial in Istanbul on June 27, with the suspicion of “publicly spreading disinformation” due to a post on social media platform X alleging corruption among the police.
- Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief for the LGBTQ+ news website Kaos GL, was among those who were detained in the sweeping NATO-related operations on June 23 and was arrested on June 25 on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization.
- At least three other journalists were taken into police custody on July 5 in the scope of the pre-summit operations. Buse Söğütlü, foreign news editor for the independent news website T24, and Ceren Erdoğdu, an editor for the left-wing nationalist news website Odatv, were detained in Ankara. They were released by an Ankara court on July 8. Abbas Vural, a reporter for the Kurdish news website Niha+, was detained in the western province of Kocaeli and beaten during a raid at his home.
- Müberra Ünsal, a reporter for the leftist news website Muzır.org, was taken into police custody while following a LGBTQ+ march in Istanbul on June 28 and released that evening.
- Gülnur Saydam, a reporter for the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, was taken from her home in Istanbul by the police on July 1 and questioned about her reporting for four hours with the suspicion of “publicly spreading disinformation,” before being released.
- Berfin Ay, editor for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, was detained at a border point in the southeastern province of Şırnak and held in police custody from July 5 to July 7 based on a false tip-off about an alleged theft and an expired foreign travel ban.
- Kayhan Ayhan, a court reporter for the leftist daily BirGün who has covered the multiple trials of imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, was taken into custody by the police from his home in Istanbul and questioned about his work with the suspicion of “publicly spreading disinformation” and released on July 7.
- Hazar Dost, a reporter for the investigative journalism platform Ortak, was detained by the police in Istanbul on July 6 regarding testimony he had given in 2018 and released the next day. Dost said he was mistreated in custody.
CPJ’s email to the Justice Ministry of Turkey requesting comment did not receive an immediate reply.