Pehlivan had written on the allegations that the personal data of Boğaziçi University students, staff, and faculty members was shared with a private company in an article

ELİF AKGÜL, ISTANBUL

The fourth hearing in the case in which journalist Barış Pehlivan is charged with “publicly insulting a public official” following a complaint by Boğaziçi University Rector Naci İnci was held at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 6 January 2026.

Pehlivan's lawyer Enes Hikmet Ermaner and Naci İnci's lawyer Feyzanur Türksal Köse were present at the hearing, which was monitored by P24.

Lawyer Köse stated that the complaints were ongoing and requested that Pehlivan be punished. Köse argued that the document from the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) regarding the disciplinary investigation of Prof. Dr. Tuna Tuğcu, mentioned in the article, was not sufficient to prove the defense.

Lawyer Ermaner stated that they had submitted to the court the response from YÖK as well as the Council of State's decision to lift the penalty related to the disciplinary investigation in question, and that they had requested Prof. Dr. Tuğcu be heard as a witness.

The court decided to review the case due to the change of judge and to evaluate the request to hear witnesses between hearings. The trial was postponed until 17 September 2026.

Background of the case

Journalist Pehlivan is on trial for his article titled "Sen misin mahrem bilgilere sahip çıkan" "How dare you protect confidential information” published on cumhuriyet.com.tr on 29 December 2023. In the article in question, Pehlivan wrote about allegations that the personal data of Boğaziçi University students, staff, and faculty members had been shared with a private company. He stated that these allegations had been confirmed by Prof. Dr. Tuna Tuğcu, Chairman of the University's Information Technology Executive Board. Prof. Dr. Tuğcu was subsequently dismissed from his position by the trustee rector Naci İnci, that two investigations were opened against him, but that the Higher Education Council (YÖK) returned the investigation file to the rectorate as a result of statements in his favor.

Following İnci's complaint, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Press Crimes Investigation Bureau filed an indictment against Pehlivan on 13 March 2024. The indictment stated that "the events described in the article are unsupported by concrete facts regarding the connection between the events and the complainant and the complainant's responsibility for the events, and do not contain objective information and documentation, but rather constitute personal commentary and conclusions.” It requested that Pehlivan be punished under Article 125/3a and 125/4 of the Turkish Criminal Code (publicly insulting a public official).

At the third hearing held on 8 July, the court decided to issue a writ to the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) requesting that the YÖK Disciplinary Board's decision dated 2 March 2023, and the documents attached to this decision be sent