Turkey must release journalist Ahmet Polad following his transfer from Syria after months of captivity
New York, September 18, 2026–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to immediately release Ahmet Polad, a Kurdish-Turkish journalist who was transferred to Turkey this month after nearly eight months of enforced disappearance in Syria and is reported to be in extremely poor health. Polad’s lawyer, Özlem Gümüştaş, told CPJ on Friday that…
Journalists in Turkey arrested, beaten, deported amid government crackdown on opposition
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 Development Party (AKP),…
Turkey jails 7 journalists and media workers, places 1 under house arrest
Istanbul, December 23, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities to release journalists who were jailed in Istanbul on Sunday and allow the media to report freely. On Saturday, Turkish authorities detained several dozen people, including journalists, at a protest against the December 20 killing of Kurdish journalists Jihan Belkin and Nazim Dashdan, who…
‘I could be jailed at any moment’: Turkish editor in limbo over terms of prison release
If somebody is legally under house arrest but in practice not, are they free? Semiha Şahin, an editor at the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), confronts this question—and the legal ambiguity that it poses—every day. A Turkish court released the journalist under house arrest in June, pending the outcome of her trial, but authorities have…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 9, 2019
Journalist in jail for insulting presidentOn June 13, Yavuz Selim Demirağ, a columnist for the nationalist daily Yeni Çağ, started an 11-month and 20-day prison sentence for “insulting the president,” according to his column published the same day. The column featured an update from the newspaper that said that the journalist had turned himself and…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 10
Police detain two journalists in separate raids Police on February 12 detained Salih Turan, a freelance journalist who formerly worked for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America and the Kurdish service of the Russian-state-funded outlet Sputnik, on accusations of “making propaganda of a [terrorist] organization” on social media and “being a member of a…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of October 26, 2018
Journalist freed pending trial An Istanbul court on October 31, ordered Ali Sönmez Kayar, a reporter for the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), to be freed pending trial, the independent news website Bianet reported. Kayar, who is charged with “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” was released under judicial control and is under a…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 23, 2018
Journalist arraigned An Istanbul court on July 19 arraigned Mustafa Gökkılıç, a former reporter for the now-closed liberal daily Radikal, on charges of having ties to the Gülen movement, which the government considers a terrorist organization, according to the state news agency Anatolia.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 16, 2018
Journalists in prison An Istanbul court on April 17 arraigned Adil Demirci, a Turkish-German dual national and reporter for the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), on charges of “being a member of a [terrorist] organization” and “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization,” according to the German news agency Deutsche Welle. In the same case, the…