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.


Abdurrahman Gök

Mezopotamya News Agency editor

Abdurrahman Gök

Adnan Bilen

Journalist, reporter for Mezopotamya news agency

Adnan Bilen

Ahmet Altan

Novelist and former editor-in-chief of Taraf newspaper

Ahmet Altan

Ahmet Kanbal

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter

Ahmet Kanbal

Ahmet Şık

Investigative journalist

Ahmet Şık

Ahmet Turan Alkan

Former columnist for Zaman daily

Ahmet Turan Alkan

Akın Atalay

Cumhuriyet Foundation Executive Board President

Akın Atalay

Ali Bulaç

Theologian, former columnist for Zaman, Yarına Bakış newspapers

Ali Bulaç

Ali Ünal

Columnist for Zaman daily

Ali Ünal

Alican Uludağ

Former Cumhuriyet reporter 

Alican Uludağ

Alptekin Dursunoğlu

Editor-in-Chief of Yakın Doğu news portal

Alptekin Dursunoğlu

Arif Aslan

Voice of America Kurdish service reporter

Arif Aslan

Aslı Ceren Aslan

Former Responsible Editor of Özgür Gelecek newspaper

Aslı Ceren Aslan

Aslı Erdoğan

Novelist, columnist, Özgür Gündem Editorial Advisory Board member

Aslı Erdoğan

Atilla Taş

Singer, former columnist for Meydan daily

Atilla Taş

Aydın Engin

Cumhuriyet columnist Aydın Engin was detained on October 31, 2016 af..

Aydın Engin

Ayşe Düzkan

Journalist Ayşe Düzkan joined in a campaign for solidarity with the ..

Ayşe Düzkan

Ayşegül Doğan

İMC TV program koordinatörü

Ayşegül Doğan

Ayşenur Parıldak

Former courthouse correspondent for Zaman newspaper

Ayşenur Parıldak

Aytekin Gezici 

Journalist and writer Aytekin Gezici was jailed pending trial on Jul..

Aytekin Gezici 

Bayram Kaya

Former reporter for Zaman and Yeni Hayat newspapers

Bayram Kaya

Bülent Utku

Bülent Utku, one of the lawyers of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, is also..

Bülent Utku

Can Dündar

Former editor-in-chief Cumhuriyet

Can Dündar

Canan Coşkun

Journalist, former courthouse reporter for Cumhuriyet newspaper

Canan Coşkun

Cemil Uğur

Reporter for Mezopotamya news agency

Cemil Uğur

Cihan Acar

Reporter for Bugün daily

Cihan Acar

Çağdaş Erdoğan

Photojournalist Çağdaş Erdoğan was detained on September 2, 2017, wh..

Çağdaş Erdoğan

Deniz Nazlım

Freelance journalist

Deniz Nazlım

Deniz Yücel

Die Welt Turkey correspondent

Deniz Yücel

Dindar Karataş

Reporter for Mezopotamya news agency

Dindar Karataş

Ece Sevim Öztürk

Ece Sevim Öztürk was arrested on 8 June 2018 as part of an investiga..

Ece Sevim Öztürk

Emin Şakir

Publisher Emin Şakir was imprisoned pending trial in November 2017

Emin Şakir

Erdem Gül

Former Ankara Bureau Chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper

Erdem Gül

Erdoğan Alayumat

Erdoğan Alayumat, a reporter for the shuttered Dicle Media News Agen..

Erdoğan Alayumat

Eren Keskin

Lawyer and human rights defender

Eren Keskin

Faruk Eren

Journalist, former President of Disk Basın-İş labor union

Faruk Eren

Fatih Polat

Editor-in-Chief of Evrensel newspaper

Fatih Polat

Ferhat Parlak

Silvan Mücadele newspaper owner and editor-in-chief

Ferhat Parlak

Fevzi Yazıcı

Former design director of Zaman newspaper

Fevzi Yazıcı

Fırat Can Arslan

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter

Fırat Can Arslan

Furkan Karabay

Editor for Gerçek Gündem news portal

Furkan Karabay

Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu

Chief columnist for Türk Solu magazine

Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu

Gökmen Ulu

Gökmen Ulu, the İzmir correspondent of Sözcü daily, was detained on ..

Gökmen Ulu

Güray Öz

News ombudsman and columnist for Cumhuriyet

Güray Öz

Hakan Kara

Hakan Kara, a Cumhuriyet columnist and and member of Cumhuriyet Foun..

Hakan Kara

Hanım Büşra Erdal

Courthouse reporter and columnist for Zaman and Yeni Hayat newspaper..

Hanım Büşra Erdal

Harun Çümen

Former reporter, responsible editor for Zaman newspaper

Harun Çümen

Hayri Demir

Reporter for DİHA and Mezopotamya news agency

Hayri Demir

Hazal Ocak

City and environment journalist for Cumhuriyet daily

Hazal Ocak

Hicran Urun

Editor for shuttered Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper

Hicran Urun

Hikmet Çetinkaya

Hikmet Çetinkaya, one of Cumhuriyet’s most well-known writers, is al..

Hikmet Çetinkaya

Hülya Karakaya

Former responsible editor of Özgür Halk magazine

Hülya Karakaya

Hüsnü Mahalli

Syrian born journalist Hüsnü Mahalli was detained on the morning of ..

Hüsnü Mahalli

İnan Kızılkaya

Former responsible managing editor of Özgür Gündem

İnan Kızılkaya

İshak Karakaş

Chief Editor of Halkın Nabzı weekly newspaper

İshak Karakaş

İshak Yasul

Former responsible editor for Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper

İshak Yasul

İsminaz Temel

Etkin News Agency (ETHA) editor

İsminaz Temel

Kazım Kızıl

Documentarist, video-activist and journalist Kazım Kızıl was arreste..

Kazım Kızıl

Lale Sarıibrahimoğlu

Lale Sarıibrahimoğlu, a veteran defense reporter and a former column..

Lale Sarıibrahimoğlu

Lokman Erdoğan

Columnist for Çorum Manşet

Lokman Erdoğan

Mahir Kanaat

Accountant for BirGün newspaper

Mahir Kanaat

Max Zirngast

Austrian freelance journalist Max Zirngast was arrested by anti-terr..

Max Zirngast

Mehmet Altan

Professor of economics, columnist, author

Mehmet Altan

Mehmet Baransu

Former reporter for Taraf newspaper

Mehmet Baransu

Mehmet Şah Oruç

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter

Mehmet Şah Oruç

Meşale Tolu

Reporter and translator for Etkin News Agency (ETHA)

Meşale Tolu

Mizgin Çay

Staff member of local radio station Radyo Karacadağ

Mizgin Çay

Murat Aksoy

Journalist, former columnist for shuttered Yeni Hayat daily

Murat Aksoy

Murat Sabuncu

Journalist, former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet daily, P24 founder

Murat Sabuncu

Mustafa Kemal Güngör

Attorney Mustafa Kemal Güngör, a Cumhuriyet Foundation board member,..

Mustafa Kemal Güngör

Mümtazer Türköne

Academic and former columnist for Zaman newspaper

Mümtazer Türköne

Nazlı Ilıcak

Journalist, political commentator

Nazlı Ilıcak

Necla Demir

Journalist, former publisher of Gazete Karınca news portal

Necla Demir

Necmiye Alpay

Linguist, former Özgür Gündem editorial advisory board member

Necmiye Alpay

Nedim Türfent

Nedim Türfent, a correspondent of the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency ..

Nedim Türfent

Nurcan Baysal

Journalist, author, human rights defender

Nurcan Baysal

Nuriye Ural

Journalist, former Zaman columnist

Nuriye Ural

Oğuz Usluer

Former Habertürk TV news coordinator

Oğuz Usluer

Orhan Erinç

Orhan Erinç is the head of the Cumhuriyet Foundation's Board of Dire..

Orhan Erinç

Orhan Kemal Cengiz

Human rights lawyer, former newspaper columnist

Orhan Kemal Cengiz

Ömer Çelik

Ömer Çelik, a news editor at the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News A..

Ömer Çelik

Önder Çelik

Cumhuriyet Foundation executive board member

Önder Çelik

Özgür Amed

Özgür Amed, a columnist for the Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was sh..

Özgür Amed

Özgür Paksoy

Mezopotamya news agency editor

Özgür Paksoy

Pelin Ünker

Journalist Pelin Ünker was hit with three separate lawsuits over her..

Pelin Ünker

Pınar Gayıp

Reporter for Etkin News Agency (ETHA)

Pınar Gayıp

Reyhan Hacıoğlu

Former editor for Özgür Gündem, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspapers..

Reyhan Hacıoğlu

Ruşen Takva

Freelance journalist

Ruşen Takva

Sadiye Eser

Mezopotamya news agency reporter

Sadiye Eser

Seda Taşkın 

Reporter for Mezopotamya news agency

Seda Taşkın 

Semiha Şahin

Etkin News Agency (ETHA) editor Semiha Şahin was arrested in Istanbu..

Semiha Şahin

Sibel Yükler

Journalist, editor and reporter for T24

Sibel Yükler

Sinan Aygül

Bitlis Journalists’ Association President, Bitlis News Editor-in-Chi..

Sinan Aygül

Şahin Alpay

Political scientist, columnist for shuttered Zaman newspaper

Şahin Alpay

Şebnem Korur Fincancı

Academic, Turkish Medical Association (TTB) Central Committee Presid..

Şebnem Korur Fincancı

Şehriban Abi

Journalist, freelance reporter for JinNews

Şehriban Abi

Şirin Kabakcı

Former Konya bureau chief of Zaman newspaper

Şirin Kabakcı

Tunca Öğreten

Former news editor for news portal Diken

Tunca Öğreten

Turhan Günay

Turhan Günay, veteran journalist and editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet ..

Turhan Günay

Ufuk Şanlı

Business journalist, former reporter for Zaman and Vatan newspapers

Ufuk Şanlı

Yetkin Yıldız

Journalist, former editor-in-chief of news portal Aktif Haber

Yetkin Yıldız

Yıldız Tar

Journalist, Editor-in-Chief of Kaos GL

Yıldız Tar

Zehra Doğan

Former reporter and editor for Jin News Agency (JİNHA)

Zehra Doğan

Zehra Özdilek

Reporter for Cumhuriyet newspaper

Zehra Özdilek

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