Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

Editor’s note: On May 22, Öznur Değer was released under a travel ban and judicial control until her next hearing on October 21. Istanbul, May 21, 2025—Turkish authorities should release Öznur Değer ahead of her trial on Thursday and stop conflating reporting on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with publishing propaganda for the outlawed group, the Committee to…

Istanbul, May 19, 2025—Turkish authorities should do everything in their power to protect BirGün reporter İsmail Arı and his family after they received death threats in connection with the journalist’s May 13 report  in the leftist daily on court bribery allegations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.  “Turkish authorities in Ankara must take the threats made against journalist…

Istanbul, May 16, 2025—Turkish authorities should immediately release freelance court reporter Furkan Karabay, who was detained during a police raid early Thursday in Istanbul, and stop detaining journalists who are trying to report the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. The detention marks at least the third in recent years. Later Thursday, an Istanbul…

Istanbul, April 17, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkey to drop charges against five photojournalists, whose trial begins on Friday, for allegedly taking part in protests in Istanbul last month. The journalists could be jailed for up to three years for violating the law on gatherings and demonstrations. In the indictment, reviewed by…

Istanbul, April 2, 2025—In the weeks since the March 19 detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a potential challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the next presidential race, along with other members of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), civil unrest has erupted in western Turkey. The government, controlled by Erdoğan’s Justice and…

Istanbul, March 31, 2025—Turkish authorities should immediately release Swedish journalist Kaj Joakim Medin, who was arrested March 27 in Istanbul on accusations of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “insulting” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Committee to Protest Journalists said Monday. “Turkey was a haven for foreign journalists covering the region just a…

Istanbul, March 24, 2025—Turkish authorities should release the journalists taken into police custody during widespread protests and end hostile behavior towards the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. Protests erupted and grew in multiple cities across Turkey following the government crackdown on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was due to be selected as…

Istanbul, March 24, 2025—Turkish authorities should immediately cancel the house arrest of award-winning investigative journalist and writer İsmail Saymaz over his reporting on the 2013 Gezi Park protests and stop using the judiciary to muzzle the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On March 19, police took Saymaz, a freelance journalist and TV…

March 13, 2025—Turkey’s new cybersecurity law could criminalize legitimate reporting on cybersecurity incidents because of its overly broad and vague language, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. The law, passed on Wednesday, criminalizes reporting about an online data leak or sharing that report unless the authorities have confirmed the incident. It imposes a prison…

On February 9, reporter Tolga Güney welcomed a CPJ representative into the apartment he shares with several colleagues in central Izmir, Turkey. It was his 362nd day under house arrest while awaiting trial on terrorism charges. “I believe I’m in this situation for doing my job,” he said over a glass of tea. Güney is…