The court has ruled that the legal elements of the impugned crime were not present and acquitted Yanardağ

CANSU PİŞKİN, ISTANBUL

The third hearing in the retrial of Tele 1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ on charges of “publicly denigrating the Government of the Republic of Turkey” over his column titled “The Mafia-ization of the System,” was held at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 25 September 2025.

Yanardağ's lawyer, Bilgütay Hakkı Durna, was present at the hearing, which was monitored by P24. Yanardağ did not attend the hearing.

The prosecutor reiterated their previous opinion on the case and requested that Yanardağ be punished for the impugned crime.

Yanardağ's lawyer, Bilgütay Hakkı Durna, also reiterated his previous defenses and requested his client's acquittal.

The court decided to acquit Yanardağ because the legal elements of the impugned crime were not present.

Background of the case

An investigation was launched against Yanardağ by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office over his article titled “The Mafia-ization of the System,” published in the 23 May 2021 issue of the BirGün newspaper. Since the management of the BirGün newspaper is based in Istanbul, the case file was transferred to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office due to lack of jurisdiction.

In the indictment filed by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on 18 August 2021, it was requested that Yanardağ be punished for the crime of “publicly insulting the Government of the Republic of Turkey” over his article, which was published in the printed edition of the newspaper and on its website. The indictment was accepted by the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance.

The Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced Yanardağ to 7 months and 15 days in prison at the hearing held on 13 April 2023. The case was transferred to the appellate court.

The 27th Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Appeals, which reviewed the appeal, decided to overturn the ruling against Yanardağ on the grounds that the article in question did not sufficiently explain which words were intended to insult the government of the Republic of Turkey, therefore it was not sufficiently explained how the offenses applied to the defendant. The case file was sent to the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance for retrial.