Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

  

Turkish police hold 3 journalists for 3 days on suspicion of ‘financing terrorism’

Istanbul, March 1, 2024—Police raided the homes of three Kurdish journalists and detained them for three days in a February incident that appears to be part of an ongoing trend of systemic harassment by Turkish authorities. Several journalists working for pro-Kurdish outlets have been arrested over the past 12 months including journalists Dicle Müftüoğlu and…

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Turkey puts 5 journalists under house arrest or judicial control 

Istanbul, February 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities to cancel the house arrests under electronic tagging and judicial controls placed on five journalists and to stop equating journalism with terrorism.  On Tuesday, police raided the homes of five reporters and took them into custody in the western city of Izmir, according to news reports….

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Three Turkish journalists found guilty of aiding terrorist organization ‘without being a member’

Istanbul, February 15, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities not to fight the appeals of journalists Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, and Fevzi Yazıcı and ensure that members of the press are not subject to judicial harassment. The 26th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes found the three journalists guilty of “assisting a [terrorist] organization…

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Demonstrators

Drop in jailed Turkish journalists belies a long-simmering press freedom crisis

In CPJ’s 2023 annual prison census, Turkey was the world’s 10th worst jailer of journalists—its most press-friendly ranking in almost a decade—with 13 behind bars, down from 40 the previous year. But the latest numbers don’t tell the full story. Turkey has consistently vied with China for the top slot in CPJ’s list of shame…

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Turkish journalist Azim Deniz shot, wounded in Kayseri

Istanbul, February 6, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urged the Turkish authorities to thoroughly investigate Monday’s shooting and wounding of journalist Azim Deniz and determine whether he was targeted for his work. “We are very glad journalist Azim Deniz survived a despicable attack, and it is a positive development that the alleged shooter was quickly…

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Turkish journalist Mahmut Altıntaş says that police beat him in detention

Turkish journalist Mahmut Altıntaş detained, says police beat him

Istanbul, February 1, 2024 – Turkish authorities must stop the country’s security forces from harassing the press and investigate accusations by Mahmut Altıntaş, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, that police beat him in detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Police in the eastern province of Adıyaman took Altıntaş into custody…

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Sinan Aygül

Turkish journalist Sinan Aygül convicted for ‘insulting’ men who beat him; attackers get suspended sentences

Istanbul, January 25, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Turkish authorities to ensure justice in the case of journalist Sinan Aygül, who was hospitalized by an assault last year. The 1st Tatvan Court of First Instance in the eastern province of Bitlis found Aygül, chief editor of the privately owned…

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces a mayoral candidate as his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) choice on January 7, 2024.

CPJ welcomes Turkish court’s annulment of law that allowed takedown of online news

Istanbul, January 11, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision by Turkey’s Constitutional Court to annul a legal clause that allowed local courts to remove online news. “We are pleased that Turkey’s highest court found unconstitutional the legal article that had been used to take down online news with public value under the guise…

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Turkish editor Furkan Karabay arrested for reporting on corruption trial of judiciary members

Istanbul, January 2, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities to immediately release journalist Furkan Karabay and to stop criminalizing reporting on the judiciary.   Istanbul police took Karabay, an editor for independent news website Gerçek Gündem (The Real Agenda), into custody on December 28, 2023 according to news reports. The next day, he…

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A man in a crowd holds up a placard with a photograph of slain journalist Hrant Dink at a demonstration to mark the 16th anniversary of his murder in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 19, 2023.

Killer of journalist Hrant Dink freed in Turkey amid widespread criticism

Istanbul, November 17, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities to heed the calls by the family of murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink for full justice, following the release of his killer from prison. In 2007, 17-year-old Ogün Samast assassinated Dink, the prominent managing editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, outside his newspaper’s…

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