In the 3rd quarter of 2024, Turkish courts heard 70 cases against 89 journalists and one newspaper. In 17 cases that concluded, 11 journalists were sentenced while 16 journalists were acquitted. Nine new cases were filed against 10 journalists; 8 journalists were detained; 4 journalists were jailed

The 11th of our Freedom of Expression and the Press Agenda quarterly reports has been published. Aimed at presenting an overview of the media freedom and freedom of expression environment in Turkey, our reports are based on data compiled through our trial monitoring work and research of open sources of information. The latest edition covers the months of July, August and September 2024.

You can read the full report here.

During this reporting period, which also included the judicial holiday that annually starts on 20 July and ends on 1 September, the number of journalism trials increased compared to the same quarter of previous years.

In the third quarter of 2024, 70 cases against 89 journalists and one newspaper were heard in the courts of first instance. While 23 of the cases were heard by high criminal courts, 39 cases were heard by criminal courts of first instance, five by civil courts and two by commercial courts of first instance. One retrial was heard by a regional court of appeal.

Of the 70 cases heard, 17 were concluded. A total of 11 journalists were handed down sentences in three of the concluded cases. In two of these cases, nine journalists were sentenced to a total of 50 years, 2 months and 17 days in prison, and in one case, two journalists were sentenced to pay a total of 33,320 TL in judicial fines. In 11 of the concluded cases, a total of 16 journalists were acquitted of the charges against them.

Journalists mostly faced “insult” and “terrorism” charges

In the cases heard during this period, journalists were mostly charged with “insult/insulting a public official,” “terrorism propaganda” and “membership in a terrorist organization.” The charges of “insulting the president” and “publicly disseminating misleading information” were also among the top five accusations faced by journalists during this period.

During the reporting period, nine new cases were filed against 10 journalists; at least eight journalists were detained; while at least 14 journalists were investigated or new investigations/criminal complaints were filed against them.

During this period, four journalists were jailed, and six journalists were released from prison. According to Expression Interrupted data, at least 26 journalists were in prison, either in pre-trial detention or serving a finalized sentence, as of the end of the reporting period.

Alarming increase in threats against journalists

The third quarter of 2024 saw an alarming increase in threats against journalists. At least 23 cases of interventions, threats, bans or attacks against journalists were recorded in this period, while public prosecutors dismissed at least one criminal complaint filed by a journalist about the threats they received.

Five journalists covering the Sinan Ateş murder case were threatened on social media with a post that contained a reference to “bullets” by the deputy chairman of government ally Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) youth organization Ülkü Ocakları (Grey Wolves). The public prosecutor’s office decided not to prosecute a complaint filed by one of the journalists targeted in the post.

In a petition requesting to participate in the Sinan Ateş murder case as an “injured party,” MHP listed the names of 154 people, including journalists, politicians, lawyers and academics, claiming they had “attacked the MHP” in their commentary. More than 50 journalists and columnists were targeted in the list the MHP submitted to the court, demanding that they be summoned to testify.

In the same period, a video emerged, claiming that a tender had been opened for one journalist’s murder and that an execution order had been issued.” Two people who were identified as the makers of the video were detained but later released.

One journalist announced that he was threatened and assaulted by the local mayor and his bodyguard after reporting on a purchase made by the district municipality. The same journalist appeared before a judge in a new trial in which he is accused of “threatening” the former mayor’s bodyguards who assaulted him. A day before the hearing, a threat message was written on the rear window of the journalist’s car.

Access to Instagram blocked, broadcasting license of Açık Radyo revoked

This reporting period was marked by arbitrary restrictions on freedom of expression and press freedom, such as the blocking of access to the social media platform Instagram by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) and the revocation of Açık Radyo’s broadcasting license by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK).

Access to Instagram was blocked in Turkey on 2 August on the grounds that the platform did not comply with the rules regarding “catalog crimes” listed in Turkey’s Internet Law no. 5651. The access block came just two days after the Presidency’s Director of Communications, Fahrettin Altun, condemned the social media platform for blocking messages of condolence over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, stating that it was an attempt at censorship.

RTÜK, on the other hand, decided to revoke the broadcasting license of Açık Radyo in July, citing the non-implementation of the five-time program suspension penalty it had imposed on the station in May on the grounds that the phrase “commemoration of the Armenian genocide” was used in the 24 April 2024 episode of the program “Açık Gazete.” Also in July, in the case filed by Açık Radyo against RTÜK’s suspension of program penalty, an administrative court issued a stay of execution order.

Within the three-month period, RTÜK also imposed administrative fines totaling 578,360 TL and an additional three-time program suspension penalty on three other pro-opposition broadcasters.

Street interviews also under scrutiny

During the reporting period, RTÜK made headlines not only with the penalties it imposed on broadcasters, but also with the statements of its president, Ebubekir Şahin. In a statement posted on 8 August on his social media account, Şahin targeted street interviews broadcast on TV networks and on social media. Claiming that these interviews were “against press ethics with their manipulative aspect” and that they “lead to disinformation,” Şahin stated that RTÜK was monitoring these broadcasts. A few days after Şahin’s statement, a woman in Izmir was arrested for criticizing the access ban on Instagram and other government policies in a street interview broadcast on YouTube.

Constitutional Court: Public ad penalties violated press freedom

During the period covered by the report, the Constitutional Court delivered a judgment regarding 13 applications lodged by five newspapers against public ad penalties they were imposed by the Press Advertisement Agency (BİK) over news content published on various dates. The top court ruled that the penalties violated freedom of expression and freedom of the press, safeguarded in Articles 26 and 28 of the Constitution. The judgment concerned applications lodged by Evrensel, Cumhuriyet, BirGün, Sözcü and Tunceli Emek newspapers. However, the top court’s judgment did not contain any ruling regarding the permanent revocation of Evrensel newspaper’s right to publish public advertisements and announcements.

Evrensel newspaper, whose right to publish public advertisements was permanently revoked by BİK in 2022, and Yeni Asya newspaper, which has been under a public ad embargo imposed by BİK for more than four years, continued to be unable to run public ads and announcements in the third quarter of the year.