Suat Toktaş released, all defendants acquitted in Halk TV trial; three journalists handed jail term in two cases; RTÜK fines Sözcü TV; İsmail Çoban released from prison

Lawsuit filed against Diren Yurtsever

İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office completed the investigation against journalist Diren Yurtsever upon the complaint of S. B., who was heard as a witness in the “Kobane” case. The indictment prepared on the charge of “revealing or publishing the identity of informers” was accepted by İstanbul 23rd High Criminal Court.

Yurtsever's news reports titled “Conflicting witness statements in Kobane indictment,” “Confessors to be heard in Kobane trial,” and “Ankara-Kobane trial court decides to hear confessors Sami Baran and Kerem Gökalp next week,” which were published by the agency while she was the Managing Editor of Mezopotamya Agency (MA), were cited as evidence for the impugned crime.

Ismail Coban released from prison

İsmail Çoban, former editor-in-chief of Azadiya Welat, who was held in Kahramanmaraş Türkoğlu L Type Closed Prison, was released on 1 March 205.

Jaileds on 3 May 2018 on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization,” Çoban was held in Diyarbakır, Mersin Tarsus, Maraş Türkoğlu and Konya Ereğli prisons respectively. Çoban, who was not allowed for supervised release, was released after serving his full sentence of 6 years and 9 months.

New case against Aziz Oruç on charges he was acquitted of

A lawsuit was filed against journalist Aziz Oruç for “membership in a terrorist organization” over the statements of Melik Canbay, who had surrendered on “remorse.”

Canbay, who had a warrant for his arrest in Kocaeli, gave a statement at the Kocaeli Security Directorate on 27 September 2024, three days after he surrendered. Canbay claimed that he had seen Oruç as the Turkish editor of the Rojnews Agency in the Federated Kurdistan Region in 2018, that he was responsible for editing and publishing all the news that came to the agency, and that he interviewed and published senior officials of the organization whenever he had the opportunity.

The Kocaeli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office sent the indictment to the Diyarbakır 4th High Crtiminal Court with a request for “merger.”

Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court accepted the request for merger on 21 February.

On the other hand, journalist Oruç had previously been put on trial due to allegations within the scope of the investigation. Oruç was acquitted at the end of the 11th hearing at the Ağrı 2nd High Criminal Court on 18 January 2023 on the grounds that there was no sufficient and convincing evidence that he had committed the crime of “membership in a terrorist organization.”

RTÜK fines Sözcü TV for “calling people to the streets”

 

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) imposed five administrative fines and five program suspensions on the channel for the speeches of Türker Ertürk, who participated in the “Aklın Yolu Program” on Sözcü TV, hosted by Serap Belovacıklı.

Ertürk's statements on different dates were alleged to have “called the people to the streets and implied that the government could stage a coup through the Turkish Armed Forces even if it loses the elections.”

Sözcü was also imposed an administrative fine for using a different logo than the one reported to RTÜK.

Request for JinNews News Director Öznur Değer’s imprisonment rejected

Mardin 2nd Criminal Judicature of Peace held the detention review of JinNews News Director Öznur Değer, who was imprisoned pending trial after being arrested in Mardin on 7 February.

Öznur Değer's lawyers Ali Kahraman and Erdal Kuzu attended the hearing.

Kahraman stated that the digital media posts subject to the accusation were news content and requested for Değer's release.

Following the statements, the court ruled for the continuation of Değer's imprisonment.

Journalist Furkan Karabay's compensation case adjourned

The second hearing in the TL 250,000 non-pecuniary damages lawsuit filed against journalist Furkan Karabay by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son Bilal Erdoğan over his social media post about former İstanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor İsmail Uçar's petition to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) was held at the İstanbul 45th Civil Court of First Instance on 6 March 2025.

The lawyers of the parties attended the hearing, which was monitored by P24. Karabay did not attend the hearing.

Karabay's lawyer Özge Naz Akkaya demanded that the case file of Karabay being overseen at the İstanbul 47th Criminal Court of First Instance be requested and made a matter of waiting.

The court decided to request the file from the İstanbul 47th Criminal Court of First Instance via UYAP system. The trial was adjourned until 8 July.

Onur Öncü's trial adjourned

The first hearing in the trial of journalist Onur Öncü due to “insult” upon the complaint of Özlem Doğan, Ankara Representative of Milat newspaper, over his social media posts, was held at the İstanbul 29th Criminal Court of First Instance on 4 March 2025. The trial was adjourned until 6 March.

 

 

The second hearing was held at the İstanbul 29th Criminal Court of First Instance on 6 March 2025.

Öncü and her lawyer Hazal Sümeli were present at the hearing.

Presenting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor requested Öncü to be sentenced for the impugned crime.

Lawyer Hazal Sümeli requested time to make a statement against the final opinion.

The court accepted the request of the plaintiff Doğan and her lawyer to join the case as co-plaintiff and the request of lawyer Hazal Sümeli for time to make a defense against the prosecutor’s opinion, and adjourned the trial until 18 March 2025.

Hatice Şahin's trial on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” adjourned until June

The first hearing in the retrial of Yeni Yaşam newspaper employee Hatice Şahin, who was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison for “membership in a terrorist organization,” was held at the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court on 6 March 2025.

The court decided to continue the ban on Şahin's leaving the country and to send a letter to Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court for the merger of the case with the case before the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court, and adjourned the trial until 17 June 2025.

Kazım Güleçyüz sentenced to prison

The second hearing in the trial of Yeni Asya newspaper Editor-in-Chief Kazım Güleçyüz on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” over his post on the X platform following the death of Fethullah Gülen was held at the İstanbul 28th High Criminal Court on 5 March 2025.

Güleçyüz, who was jailed on 23 October 2024 and released in the first hearing on 19 December, and three other defendants as well as their lawyers were present at the hearing.

The prosecutor stated that they repeated their final opinion on the case they presented between the hearings and demanded that all defendants be sentenced for the impugned crime.

Güleçyüz's lawyer Mustafa Özbek, who stated that he repeated his previous statements, said, “We demand the acquittal of my client, and if your court is of the opposite opinion, we demand the application of the favorable legal provisions and the return of my client's property.”

The court sentenced Kazım Güleçyüz to 1 year and 3 months for the impugned crime. The court deferred the sentence and decided to keep the hard disks containing the recorded images as evidence in the case file and to return the digital materials.

The court sentenced one of the defendants to 1 year and 3 months in prison and acquitted the other two.

 

Acquittal for all defendants in the retrial of Sözcü

The retrial of Sözcü newspaper writers and executives on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization” was held at the İstanbul 37th High Criminal Court on 6 March 2025.

The hearing was attended by lawyers and journalist Gökmen Ulu, and Sözcü columnist Emin Çölaşan was connected via the judicial videoconferencing system.

The defendants demanded compliance with the Court of Cassation’s decision and their acquittal. In their final opinion, the prosecutor asked for Emin Çölaşan and Yonca Yücekaleli to be sentenced, and for the other defendants to be acquitted. After hearing the defenses, the court took a short recess for the verdict. The panel followed the decision of the Court of Cassation and acquitted all defendants individually.

The first lawsuit was filed against the newspaper's owner Burak Akbay, reporter Gökmen Ulu, former employee Mediha Olgun and accountant Yonca Yücekaleli. Later, lawsuits were filed against writers Emin Çölaşan, Necati Doğru, Editor-in-Chief Metin Yılmaz, online news coordinator Yücel Arı and online news Editor-in-Chief Mustafa Çetin. All were charged with “aiding FETÖ without being a member of the organization” and the cases were merged.

The newspaper's writers, defendants Emin Çölaşan and Necati Doğru, were sentenced to 3 years 6 months and 15 days each for “knowingly and willingly aiding FETÖ armed terrorist organization.” The website's Editor-in-Chief defendant Mustafa Çetin and the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief defendant Metin Yılmaz were sentenced to 3 years and 4 months each for the same offense.

Prison sentences handed to Kürşat Yılmaz and Görkem Kınacı

The eighth hearing in the trial of Kürşat Yılmaz, Evrensel newspaper's publisher, and Görkem Kınacı, former managing editor, on charges of “defamation” and “insult” upon the complaint of Serhat Albayrak, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Turkuvaz Media Group, was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 4 March 2025.

The court sentenced Kınacı and Yılmaz to 10 months in prison each for “defamation” and ruled that there was no need for a verdict on the “insult” charge.

The trial of Dinçer Gökçe, Nilay Can and Veysi Dündar adjourned until May

The second hearing in the case against journalists Dinçer Gökçe, Nilay Can, Veysi Dündar and another defendant on charges of “spreading false information” was held at the Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 4 March 2025.

Nilay Can's lawyer Bilge Batur was present in the courtroom.

The trial was adjourned until 28 May 2025.

 

The 18th hearing in the case against journalists Osman Akın and Veysi Sarısözen on the charge of “making propaganda for an illegal organization” (TMK 7/2) was held on 4 March 2025 at İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court.

No one attended the hearing.

The trial was adjourned until 24 June 2025.

Sinan Aygül's 14-year-long trial adjourned again

The 54th hearing in the retrial of journalist Sinan Aygül on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” in the “Bitlis KCK” case was held at the Bitlis 2nd High Criminal Court on 4 March 2025.

Neither Aygül nor his lawyer attended the hearing.

The court adjourned the trial until 24 June 2025.

Zeynep Kuray's case file sent to prosecutor's office

The second hearing in the trial of journalist Zeynep Kuray on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” was held at the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court on 4 March 2025.

Kuray and her lawyer Hazal Sümeli were present at the hearing.

The court ruled to send the file to the prosecutor's office for their final opinion to be filed, and adjourned the trial until 8 May 2025.

Hayko Bağdat's “propaganda” case adjourned until July

The 16th hearing in the trial of journalist Hayko Bağdat on charges of “terrorism propaganda” over his social media posts was held at the İstanbul 28th High Criminal Court on 4 March 2025.

No one attended the hearing.

The trial was adjourned until 10 July 2025.

Suat Toktaş released

The first hearing in the trial of Halk TV Editor-in-Chief Suat Toktaş, Managing Editor Serhan Asker, Programs Coordinator Kürşad Oğuz, programmer Barış Pehlivan and presenter Seda Selek on charges of “recording non-public conversations between individuals,” “broadcasting recorded conversations through the press and broadcasting” and “influencing a judicial official” was held at the İstanbul 54th Criminal Court of First Instance on 4 March 2025.

Suat Toktaş, who is imprisoned pending trial, Seda Selek, Serhan Asker, Kürşad Oğuz and Barış Pehlivan, and their lawyers were present at the hearing, which was monitored by P24.

After the identification, Seda Selek made her defense and denied the accusations against her: “I did not know that the interview between S.B., who is also the plaintiff in this case, and journalist Barış Pehlivan, regarding the issues raised by İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in his press statement, was being reported and published until I was told by the editor-in-chief and published.”

Seda Selek's lawyer Hüseyin Ersöz, citing the decisions of the Court of Cassation and ECtHR, said that the publication of an audio recording by a journalist is not a crime and is considered freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Kürşad Oğuz, defending himself, said, “When I witnessed Barış Pehlivan's phone conversation with expert S.B., I recorded the conversation purely out of journalistic reflex. Even if we did not publish this recording, it would have been reported, but I recorded it so as not to miss anything he said. I sent the recording to Suat Toktaş without tampering with it in any way. Suat Toktaş published the recording again out of journalistic reflex. The accusation of influencing the expert also does not reflect the truth because it was already a written report.” Oğuz rejected the charges against him and demanded his acquittal.

Oğuz's lawyer also stated that the act subject to the accusation falls within the scope of freedom of the press and that the elements of the impugned crime did not form, and demanded his client’s acquittal.

Barış Pehlivan said the following in his defense: “The fact that a politician makes such allegations against an expert should draw the attention of everyone who has lived in this land. As a journalist, I have a duty to take that politician's allegations seriously and to ask his interlocutor about these striking theses. Ekrem İmamoğlu's press conference is over. I wanted to ask the relevant expert about the allegations against him, so I reached out to him and asked my questions. It was purely a journalistic reflex and a conversation to get around the news.”

Pehlivan's lawyer Hüseyin Esröz stated that the legal elements of the impugned crime did not form. Ersöz demanded the lifting of judicial control measures against his client and his acquittal.

Suat Toktaş made the following remarks in his defense: “There are five of us on trial here, but the incident took place between three people. Seda Selek and Seyhan Akser were not involved. I was jailed on suspicion of fleeing. If I had fled, I would have fled that day. I did not flee. I took responsibility for my job as a manager. My other reason for imprisonment was suspicion of evidence tampering. But there is no evidence other than that audio recording. The recording in question did not cause any outrage in the society. Despite all this, I have been in pre-trial detention for 34 days. It is journalism that is on trial. I take responsibility for the work, but I also want to explain the process. They sent me the recording. I wrote to Barış, I asked him if he had permission from the expert to publish the recording, if he would not sue. Barış replied, 'brother, we are journalists.' Thinking that he had permission, I shut down the computer, got up from my desk and published the recording. I did not intend to commit a crime. Why have I been in prison for 34 days for a crime for which there is no inpatient sentence? Voice recording is a complaint-based crime. However, expert S.B. did not file a complaint. He became involved in an ex officio investigation later. This unlawfulness and procedural error are appalling. The prosecutor made such simple mistakes that he unintentionally worked in our favor.” Toktaş demanded his release and acquittal.

 

 

Suat Toktaş's lawyer stated that the constitutional rights of his client, who is in pre-trial detention for a crime subject to reconciliation, have been violated. Toktaş's lawyer demanded his client’s release and acquittal.

In his defense, Serhan Asker denied the charges against him and demanded his acquittal: “I was on vacation on the day the audio recording was broadcast. I saw on TV that Barış was taken into custody. Since I was the responsible manager, I thought that I might be taken into custody too, and so I was. Although I was on vacation that day and had nothing to do with the release of the audio recording, I was detained for two days. I have to sign in once a week and I have been imposed an international travel ban.”

Serhan Asker's lawyer also demanded his client's acquittal as the elements of the charged crime did not form.

Presenting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor demanded that Toktaş, Pehlivan, Oğuz, Selek and Asker be sentenced for the impugned crimes. The prosecutor requested the continuation of Suat Toktaş's pre-trial detention on the grounds that the evidence has not yet been collected.

Taking the floor in turn against the prosecutor's final opinion, the defendants and their lawyers stated that they disagreed with the final opinion and reiterated their demands for acquittal.

The court acquitted all defendants of “influencing the execution of judicial duty.” Regarding the charge of “interception and recording of public conversations between individuals,” the court decided to send the file to the reconciliation office since the reconciliation procedure, which is a condition of the case, has not been realized. With the release of Toktaş, the court ruled for the continuation of the ban on leaving the country for all defendants and lifted the judicial control measure of signing in once a week for the defendants who were free pending trial.

At least 37 journalists and media workers in prison

Following the release of journalists Suat Toktaş and İsmail Çoban, as of 7 March 2025, there are at least 37 journalists and media workers in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence.

The full list can be accessed here.