Merdan Yanardağ, editor-in-chief for the independent broadcaster TELE1, is in prison after he was arrested by an Istanbul court on October 27, 2025, on suspicion of espionage.
He could face 15-20 years in jail if found guilty of the charges.
His trial started in the 25th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes on May 11, 2026. Yanardağ, who presented his defense on the second day of the first hearing, said the prosecution failed to connect him to any foreign country or organization to prove the charge of espionage. The second hearing was held on July 7 and the third took place on September 29. The court denied Yanardağ's plea for release in each of these hearings and set a fourth hearing for December 23, 2026.
Case History
Istanbul police took Yanardağ into custody on October 24, 2025 as part of a political “espionage” investigation that also involves imprisoned Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Turkish authorities also assigned a trustee to the critical outlet TELE1, which was subsequently put up for sale.
Yanardağ, alongside İmamoğlu and two others, was charged with “political espionage” in mid-February 2026.
In his initial statement to authorities after his arrest, Yanardağ said he was being framed and that he did not take money from the government informant who named him as a spy. The chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul accused Yanardağ of involvement in “election manipulation” alongside the informant. In a message released after his indictment was accepted by the court in February 2026, Yanardağ said he was charged with espionage to silence TELE1.
Yanardağ was previously arrested because of his political commentary in June 2023 and spent 101 days in prison before being handed a two-and-a-half-year sentence for terrorism propaganda. He was released in October 2023. On November 3, 2025, Turkey’s Constitutional Court found in favor of Yanardağ regarding the 2023 arrest and granted him financial compensation.
In April 2023, an Istanbul court found Yanardağ guilty of “demeaning” the state and the nation because of a 2021 column published in the leftist daily BirGün and sentenced him to seven years and 15 days in prison. He remained free pending appeal. This verdict was overturned by an appeals court and Yanardağ was acquitted in the retrial in September 2025.
CPJ’s email to the chief prosecutor’s office in Istanbul asking for comment in October 2025 and October 2026 did not receive a reply.