Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

Istanbul, January 14, 2021 – Turkish authorities must release journalist Pınar Gayıp immediately and return all items confiscated in a recent raid on the Etkin News Agency, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Last night, police raided the Istanbul office of the Etkin News Agency, a news outlet supportive of the Socialist Party of…

Istanbul, January 5, 2021 – Turkish authorities should immediately release journalist Mehmet Aslan and cease harassing staffers of the Mezopotamya News Agency, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  Today, police in Istanbul arrested Aslan, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, after raiding his home, and then transferred him to the southern city…

Spotify, the New York-headquartered audio streaming service, was one of four companies required to apply for a license to broadcast on the internet in Turkey in October, according to local news reports–a sign of Turkey’s strengthening regulatory power over podcasts, including news and commentary. The requirement was announced as Turkish authorities appeared to be ramping up…

Istanbul, December 23, 2020 – The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a Turkish court’s conviction and sentencing of exiled journalist Can Dündar. Today, the 14th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes announced that Dündar, who lives in Germany, had been sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison for an espionage conviction, and eight…

After nearly 14 years and multiple court cases, the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, remains largely unsolved even as the extended main trial appears to be set to draw to a close. Dink’s teenage killer and his immediate accomplices are behind bars, but prosecutors in the retrial, ordered by Turkey’s supreme court in 2013, have yet…

The number of journalists jailed globally because of their work hit a new high in 2020 as governments cracked down on coverage of COVID-19 or tried to suppress reporting on political unrest. Authoritarians again took cover in anti-press rhetoric from the United States. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser Published December 15, 2020 NEW…

Istanbul, December 7, 2020 – Turkish authorities should not contest journalist Ayşegül Doğan’s appeal, and should cease filing terrorism charges against members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Today, the Ninth Court of Serious Crimes, in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, convicted Doğan of membership in a terrorist organization, and sentenced…

Istanbul, November 24, 2020 – Turkish authorities should stop harassing journalists working at the Mezopotamya News Agency, immediately release reporter Dindar Karataş, and return any equipment confiscated from the outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. This morning, police officers in the eastern city of Van arrested Karataş at his home, and then brought…

October 22, 2020, Istanbul – Turkey must stop harassing journalists and prosecuting them on trumped up charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, a court Istanbul rejected an appeal by exiled journalist Can Dündar, thereby allowing authorities to seize his assets in Turkey, the news website Duvar English reported. Today, another Istanbul court…

Turkey’s press freedom situation is continuing to deteriorate as judicial independence shrinks and the government’s grasp on the internet tightens, a delegation featuring the Committee to Protect Journalists and 10 other international press freedom and human rights organizations said in a statement and a press conference today. From October 6-9, 2020, the delegation met with…