İrem Delice, a reporter for Aydın Denge, a news outlet in the western Aydın Province, was arrested on August 28, 2026, on suspicion of “spreading disinformation.”
Delice and three other staff members from Aydın Denge were taken into police custody on August 26 after the publication of a report on the death of a local woman named Gülşen Erdoğan under the headline “Erdoğan passed away.”
The four - publisher Emin Aydın, responsible news editor Yeşim Ülker and reporters İslam Keleş and Delice - were placed under investigation for publicly spreading disinformation on the basis that the deceased had the same surname as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In a column published in Aydın Denge, publisher Aydın said the death report was a routine story and the outlet did not intend to confuse or trick the readers.
A court in Aydın released the four pending investigation under judicial control on the same day but Delice, who wrote the story about the local woman’s death, was later imprisoned on August 28 after the prosecution appealed the releases.
In his column published on August 29, Aydın said there was no intention to insult the president.
“In the post in question, we absolutely had no intention of targeting the President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, sending him a message, insulting him, or creating any implication that could constitute a crime,” he wrote.
“Certainly, a headline may be misunderstood. A visual (for the headline) may be prepared in a more careful way. We learn lessons from experiences, review our publishing process and take precautions to prevent similar misunderstandings as every outlet does. However, we believe that a nonexistent criminal intent cannot be fabricated from a technical or editorial choice,” he wrote.
At the time of publishing, CPJ was unable to confirm whether the investigation would result in a trial for Delice and the other three Aydın Denge staff.
CPJ emailed the Aydın Chief Public Prosecutor’s office for comment but did not receive a reply.