In the case filed by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, the prosecutor requested that journalist Yıldırım be punished for the crime of “insulting a public official”

EYLEM SONBAHAR, ISTANBUL

The second hearing in the trial of Nefes newspaper reporter Nisanur Yıldırım, who is charged with “insulting a public official” upon a complaint by Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, was held at the Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 18 February 2026.

Yıldırım did not attend the hearing, but her lawyer Merve Bilgin and Ersoy's lawyer were present. P24 monitored the hearing.

The prosecutor presented their final opinion on the case and demanded that Yıldırım be punished for the impugned crime.

Yıldırım's lawyer requested time to prepare a defense against the prosecutor’s opinion on the case. Ersoy's lawyer, Hasan Hüseyin Kalafat, stated that they agreed with the opinion and requested that Yıldırım be punished.

The court accepted the request for time and postponed the case until 11 June 2026.

Background of the case

On 15 July 2025, an investigation was launched by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against Nefesnewspaper reporter Nisanur Yıldırım, upon a complaint filed by Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, citing a news article published under the headline “Bakanın şirketine 150 milyon dolar piyango vurdu” (Minister's company wins 150 million-dollar lottery.)

Upon completion of the investigation, an indictment was filed on 5 September 2025, charging Yıldırım with “insulting a public official in connection with their duties.” The indictment included a summary of the complaint filed by the plaintiff’s representative and the defense petition submitted to the case file by Yıldırım's lawyer.

The indictment stated that the plaintiff was the Minister of Culture and Tourism and included the following statements from the letter that was the subject of the complaint: “It has been revealed how they acquired the coupon land in Antalya. They won the lottery for 150 million dollars,” "The allocated land, which is said to be worth 150 million dollars if put up for auction today, went to Tourism Minister Ersoy's company. Now a hotel is being built on that land,” ”The treasury land was opened for development without tender for the minister's 5-star hotel; the minister's company hit the jackpot; It has been revealed that Tourism Minister Ersoy's company Nebula, which traveled to Greece on a luxury yacht, had a hotel built without a tender on forest land in Kundu, Antalya.”

According to the indictment, these statements constituted the crime of “insulting a public official.” The prosecutor requested that journalist Nisanur Yıldırım be punished for the impugned crime.