Cihan Acar Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

A Turkish court is seen in Istanbul on July 6, 2018. Turkey's courts recently opened their new judicial year with fines and stiff penalties for journalists. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Turkish courts open new judicial year with fines, jail sentences for journalists

September 12, 2019 3:18 PM EDT

Turkish courts opened their new judicial year on September 2, 2019, with delayed sentences of jailtime, fines, and mandatory library time for journalists, according to news reports.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses members of Turkey's parliament in Ankara on October 16, 2018. A court convicted three journalists of insulting the president in the pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem. (AFP/Adem Altan)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of October 18

October 25, 2018 1:37 PM EDT

Court sentences journalists over Özgür Gündem campaignAn Istanbul court on October 24 sentenced three journalists to jail for “insulting the president” in the now shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem, the daily Evrensel reported.

Morning mists over the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey in January 2018. A Turkish court on March 8, 2018, sentenced at least 22 journalists on terrorism-related charges, according to media reports. (Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)

Turkey sentences at least 22 journalists on terrorism-related charges

March 8, 2018 4:42 PM EST

Istanbul, March 8, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a Turkish court’s decision today to sentence at least 22 journalists to prison on terrorism-related charges, and called on Turkish authorities to release them without delay.

A woman takes a selfie with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul, August 4, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 13, 2017

August 14, 2017 12:10 PM EDT

Court jails journalist pending trial for social media activity A court in Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province ordered Mehmet Sıddık Damar, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), jailed pending trial on charges of “propagandizing for a [terrorist] organization” in his social media posts, the news website Dihaber reported today. Damar had…

Security forces stand guard atop a building in Istanbul as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gives a speech in favor of amendments to the constitution that would increase his powers, March 26, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 2, 2017

April 3, 2017 10:59 AM EDT

Cumhuriyet journalists respond to indictment Cumhuriyet journalists Kadri Gürsel and Murat Sabuncu, who were listed in an indictment against the Turkish daily earlier this week, reacted to the accusations presented to the court, online newspaper Demokrat Haber and Cumhuriyet reported yesterday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leaves a press conference in Ankara, July 20, 2016 (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 31

August 1, 2016 11:42 AM EDT

Court indicts 12 media workers on terrorism charges An Istanbul court last night indicted 12 journalists on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization — the Hizmet movement, which the Turkish government classes as a terrorist group and alleges orchestrated a failed military coup on July 15 – Turkey’s official Anatolia news agency…

Turkey detains at least 48 journalists in one week

July 29, 2016 1:22 PM EDT

New York, July 29, 2016–Turkish authorities should release and drop all charges against 48 journalists police have detained in the last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police have detained at least 48 journalists in the past week as part of a sweeping purge of the media, according to local press reports.

In this July 24, 2016, handout photo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gives the Rabaa salute, a reference to Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawaya Square, where Egyptian soldiers and police in August 2013 killed hundreds of supporters of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi protesting the military's ousting of the Egyptian president in July 2013. (Pool/AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 24

July 25, 2016 11:37 AM EDT

At least 48 journalists detained in one week Police in Turkey detained at least 48 journalists in the past week, according to the independent news website P24 and the Twitter account of Ben Gazeteciyim, a volunteer association of Turkish journalists formed to show solidarity with their threatened colleagues. At the time of publication, 21 of…