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.

Freedom of Expression and the Press in Turkey – 529

Veteran journalist Altaylı sentenced over YouTube comments and remains in prison; journalists acquitted over reporting on mass İmamoğlu demonstrations; Turkey’s media regulator fines five outlets

Trial of journalists detained while covering press conference gets underway

Toral, who said she was beaten during her detention, said, “The violence I suffered during my detention caused a tear in my left hip. I still cannot react quickly when covering a news”

Eight journalists acquitted in Saraçhane trial

The court that acquitted journalists who were detained and held for two days for covering the Saraçhane protests stated, “It has not been established that the alleged crime was committed"

Journalist Fatih Altaylı kept in prison, given jail term

Altaylı, who had been in pre-trial detention for 158 days for “threatening the president,” has been sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison. The court ruled that Altaylı remain in detention

Anonymous witness heard in trial of journalist Abdurrahman Gök

The anonymous witness heard in the trial of Abdurrahman Gök, who is being tried over his news reports and social media posts, stated, “I did not witness any other actions besides his news reports”

Warrant issued for the compulsory appearance of Ayşenur Arslan in the Metastaz 2-Cendere case

The lawsuit filed against 10 people, nine of whom are journalists, following a complaint filed by President Erdoğan’s former lawyer, Mustafa Doğan İnal, has been postponed until April 2026

Freedom of Expression and the Press in Turkey – 528

LeMan cartoonist Doğan Pehlevan released after 139 days in jail as dual trials continue; arrest warrant issued for Ayşenur Arslan in trial of 9 journalists; Hayko Bağdat acquitted in retrial

Trial of journalist Tolga Şardan adjourned until April

T24 columnist Tolga Şardan is on trial on charges of “publicly disseminating misleading information” and “denigrating the state’s judicial organs” over an article on alleged corruption in judiciary

LeMan cartoonist Doğan Pehlevan released after 139 days

Pehlevan, who was imprisoned pending trial for “insulting the president,” has been released under judicial control measures, including a ban on leaving the country and weekly reporting

International travel ban on journalist Vedat Örüç in his "terrorism" case not lifted

Örüç has said, “For a journalist, freedom of movement is as indispensable as a pen. Therefore, journalism knows no borders; I cannot do my job without freedom of travel”

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