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January 6, 2025 – Turkey –
A recent report by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) highlights an alarming rise in press freedom cases in Turkey, with numerous journalists facing court proceedings during the week of January 6, 2025. These cases reflect an ongoing pattern of legal harassment and censorship targeting the country’s independent media.
The week’s hearings span multiple cities and involve a wide array of charges. On January 6, a court in Antalya held the 22nd hearing in a long-running case against 17 individuals, including journalists Metin Cihan, Eylem Sonbahar, and Sema Karakurt, accused of “resisting police” and “insulting the president” during coverage of the 2015 G20 protests.
On January 7, two other hearings were scheduled. In Ayvalık, journalist Cengiz Erdinç was prosecuted under Turkey’s controversial “disinformation law” for allegedly spreading false information. In Istanbul, multiple journalists arrested during May Day demonstrations also faced charges related to “resisting law enforcement.”
Other journalists, including Furkan Karabay, Hazal Ocak, and Pınar Gayıp, faced trials for reporting that allegedly insulted the judiciary, defamed officials, or constituted terrorist propaganda. On January 8, Ramazan Ölçen, former publisher of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Azadiya Welat, was tried in Diyarbakır for “membership in a terrorist organization.”
The week continued with more hearings in Van, Ankara, and Gaziantep, where journalists such as İdris Yılmaz and İrfan Uçar were charged with spreading disinformation and incitement through their reporting.
These prosecutions occur in a broader context of media repression in Turkey, which ranks 159th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index. Since 2016, over 9,000 journalists have been detained, and many media outlets have been shuttered or placed under government control.
Human rights advocates warn that Turkey’s misuse of anti-terror and disinformation laws creates a climate of fear and self-censorship. Legal experts and press freedom organizations are urging the Turkish government to halt these prosecutions and repeal laws that criminalize journalistic work. Without meaningful reform, the future of independent journalism in Turkey remains in grave jeopardy.
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