Sibel Yükler, a reporter for the news portal T24, started out as a journalist in 2007 and has worked at various media outlets including news agencies and newspapers as a reporter and editor.

“Membership in a terrorist organization” investigation

Yükler was detained on 20 October 2017, when she was working as an editor for JinNews, as part of an investigation by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on the allegation of “membership in a terrorist organization.” Yükler, as well as JinNews reporters Habibe Eren and Duygu Erol and Mezopotamya news agency (MA) reporters Selman Güzelyüz and Diren Yurtsever were detained in early morning police raids on the homes of JinNews and MA employees as part of the investigation.

The detained journalists were taken to the Counter-Terrorism Branch of the Ankara Police Department and were initially not granted access to their lawyers on the grounds that a confidentiality order had been imposed on the file. The justification for the investigation was given as a report allegedly concerning the journalists that “they would report on the death of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, a demonstration would be held, and a bomb would be set off at this demonstration.” During their interrogation, the journalists were asked about the report that allegedly concerned them.

Yükler, Yurtsever and Güzelyüz were released on 21 October 2017 after their statements were taken at the police department. Eren and Erol were released on 23 October 2017 under a ban on traveling abroad after their statements were taken by a public prosecutor. The investigation is still underway.

“Violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations” charge

Yükler was violently detained by the police with reverse handcuffs along with journalists Deniz Nazlım and Yıldız Tar as they were heading towards Ulus Square in Ankara on 5 July 2022 to take part in a planned press statement by Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform (MKGP) to protest the arrest of 16 journalists in Diyarbakır on 16 June 2022.

The press statement was blocked by the Ankara Police Department, which cited another press statement planned to take place at the same time and place under permission from the Ankara Governor’s Office. Yükler, Nazlım and Tar were released later that day after their statements were taken. An investigation was subsequently launched against the three journalists on the allegation of “violating the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations.”

Yükler, Nazlım and Tar filed complaints with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in November 2022 against the law enforcement officers who violently detained them, alleging torture, insult, failure to report a crime, depriving a person of their liberty and causing bodily harm by exceeding the limit on the authority to use force. However, in April 2023, the public prosecutor dropped the investigation that had been launched upon the journalists’ complaints, citing “lack of sufficient evidence.”

On 8 June 2023, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offıce issued an indictment against Tar, Yükler and Nazlım, charging all three with “participating in an unlawful demonstration and not dispersing despite warnings” under Article 32/1 of the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations.

Claiming that the press statement regarding the journalists arrested in Diyarbakır was “unlawful” because another press statement by the East Turkestan Research Foundation and the Uyghur Academy Foundation that had been approved by the Governor’s Office was to take place at the same time and place, the prosecutor who drafted the indictment argued that the journalists “persistently refused to leave the area” and “encouraged and provoked the public to hold illegal demonstrations” and requested that the journalists be sentenced.

The indictment was accepted by the Ankara 71st Criminal Court of First Instance.

The first hearing of the trial took place on 9 January 2024.

P24 monitored the hearing, which was attended by Yükler, Nazlım, Tar and their lawyers.

Ruling to conduct further investigation in line with the defense lawyers’ requests, the court decided to inquire of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office about the criminal complaint filed by the journalists against the law enforcement officers, which resulted in the dismissal of charges; to inquire of the Ankara Police Department about the full camera footage of the incident; to have an expert examine the footage; to inquire of the Ankara Governor’s Office about whether protests, demonstrations, press statements etc. in Ulus Square were banned on 5 July 2022, and whether a notification had been made regarding the press statement mentioned in the indictment.

The court set 25 April 2024 as the date for the second hearing.

Investigation for reposting MA reporter Arslan’s social media post

On 25 July 2023, while she worked as an editor for the T24 news website, Yükler was detained in a police raid on her home in Ankara and was taken to the Ankara Police Department.

It later became clear that Yükler had been detained as part of an investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office over a social media post shared by MA reporter Fırat Can Arslan regarding the relocations of a public prosecutor and a judge under a circular by the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK).

MA reporter Arslan had shared the relevant pages of the HSK circular on the relocations of the prosecutor and the judge, a married couple, on 18 July 2023 on his personal social media account. The prosecutor had prepared the indictment against 18 journalists, 16 of whom were arrested in Diyarbakır on 16 June 2022, while the judge was on the panel of judges of the court overseeing the trial against the journalists. Upon a complaint by prosecutor M.K. and spouse S.K., the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against Arslan and those who had reposted Arslan’s post on the allegation of “marking persons assigned with the fight against terrorism as targets” under Article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK). Police raided Arslan’s home in Ankara early in the morning of 25 July 2023. Arslan was detained and arrested the same day by the court he was referred to, while Yükler, who was also detained as part of the same investigation, was released under judicial control measures consisting of a ban on traveling abroad and signing her name once a month.

The investigation against Yükler is still underway.