The court has decided to acquit Mengü, stating that “the legal elements of the crime were not present” in the statements made in two videos published on her YouTube channel

EYLEM SONBAHAR, İSTANBUL

The third hearing in the trial of journalist Nevşin Mengü, who was charged with “publicly inciting the people to hatred and hostility” over statements made in two videos published on her YouTube channel on 19 and 21 February, 2024, following a complaint by Orhan Osmanoğlu, the grandson of Ottoman Emperor Abdulhamid II, was held at the İstanbul 38th Criminal Court of First Instance on 24 October 2025.

Mengü, who was present at the hearing with her lawyers, stated, “I do not accept the impugned crime in any way; the material and moral elements of the crime did not form. It is clear that I did not commit the crime of inciting the public to hatred and hostility in any way on my news site. I request that my acquittal.”

The prosecutor, presenting their final opinion on the case, requested an acquittal for the journalist on the grounds that Mengü's statements were directed at the participant personally, that there was no statement inciting one segment of the public against another, and that these statements did not pose a clear and imminent threat to public safety.

The court also decided to acquit journalist Nevşin Mengü, finding that the legal elements of the impugned crime were not present.

Background of the case

Mengü's statements in videos posted on her YouTube channel on 19 and 21 February 2024, were cited as grounds for the charges.

In the video published on 19 February 2024, Mengü said, "There was a very bombastic wedding over the weekend. They call her Berna Sultan. Sultan of what! This Osmanoğlu surname, there is this sauce seller, you know, selling sauce. He writes something in Ottoman Turkish and says, ‘Let's read it.’ He organizes tours, saying things like ‘these are our old lands,’ and takes people to Belgrade. He's an ignorant man. His daughter is getting married. They invited everyone to the wedding, and people took it seriously and went. The Editor-in-Chief of Star Newspaper went, and they married Her Highness Berna Sultan. What Highness, my brother? Come on, you are an Ottomanist, these people are like 88th in the line of succession! His father sells sauce, Ottoman sauces and such. His cousin sells perfume, underwear, Ottoman underwear. Anyway, Your Highness and all that. They have lost their minds. They have shared some really weird photos. İlber Ortaylı was criticized for going to the same place as Halil Konakçı, like what is the connection? They invited Ortaylı too. He went because it is Ottoman. What would the big man know? But look at them, they have lost their minds."

In the video content dated 21 February 2024, she said, "We are talking about the wedding with the plastic swords that the shower cabin sons are protecting. Berna Osmanoğlu Sultan got married. Her husband wears a fez. There's nothing missing at that wedding. Şevki Yılmaz said a prayer there. He's standing next to Salçacı Osmanoğlu. He says, ‘O Lord, destroy those who left the ummah leaderless, those who abolished the caliphate.’ He's talking about Atatürk, of course, in Turkish. Are we stupid? But when he got a lot of backlash, he changed his tune. These cowards! I said to him, ‘Brother, why are you afraid of Atatürk?’”