Expression Interrupted

Journalists and academics bear the brunt of the massive crackdown on freedom of expression in Turkey. Scores of them are currently subject to criminal investigations or behind bars. This website is dedicated to tracking the legal process against them.

Five journalists sentenced in "RedHack case"

Tunca Öğreten, Metin Yoksu, Ömer Çelik, Eray Sargın and Mahir Kanaat handed down suspended sentences for “illegally obtaining or disseminating personal data,” Okatan acquitted of all charges

Freedom of Expression and the Press in Turkey - 326

Five journalists sentenced in “RedHack trial”; top court rejects Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu’s application; RTÜK fines three TV networks; Evrim Kepenek to stand trial for “insulting” child abuse suspect

Freedom of Expression and the Press in Turkey - 325

Networks critical of gov't imposed 71 fines in 2021; 18 journalists acquitted of “resisting arrest”; Doğan Ergün and İzel Sezer appear in court; Demirören files compensation case against Hazal Ocak

Trial against Meşale Tolu adjourned once again

The court did not render a judgment due to a change of the judges on the panel. Case adjourned until 17 January

Journalists Ergün and Sezer appear in court for two reports

Ergün and Sezer are on trial for reporting on allegations of bribery regarding President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former lawyer. The next hearing of the case will be held in March 2022

Online panel: Judicial supervision as a means of silencing journalists

Lawyer Ömer Çakırgöz and journalists Buse Söğütlü and Tunca Öğreten discussed travel ban and other judicial control measures imposed on journalists in press trials

Journalists on trial for "resisting" arrest during 2016’s Özgür Gündem raid acquitted

The indictment charged 22 journalists with “preventing police officers from performing their duty” and “insulting a public official”

Freedom of Expression and the Press in Turkey - 324

Kemal Demir sentenced to prison; retrial of novelist Aslı Erdoğan begins; life imprisonment sought for Rojhat Doğru; prosecutor demands sentence for Durket Süren; ECtHR issues Nazlı Ilıcak judgment

TV10’s Kemal Demir sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison

Kemal Demir, a former cameraman for the now-defunct channel TV10, was sentenced for “aiding a terrorist organization without being its member” while his co-defendant, Kemal Karagöz, was acquitted

MA reporter Mehmet Aslan acquitted

Aslan, who was charged with “membership in a terrorist organization” on account of his work as journalist, remained in pre-trial detention for 4.5 months as part of the case

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