The case file of Nefes newspaper reporter Yıldırım, who is on trial upon a complaint by Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, has been sent to the prosecutor's office for the preparation of the final opinion on the case

EYLEM SONBAHAR, ISTANBUL

The first hearing in the trial of Nefes newspaper reporter Nisanur Yıldırım, charged with “insulting a public official,” was held on at the Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance 4 February 2026.

P24 monitored the hearing, which was attended by Nisanur Yıldırım's lawyer Merve Bilgin and the plaintiff Mehmet Nuri Ersoy's lawyer Rüveyda İslam. Yıldırım, who made a statement at the preliminary hearing at the Ankara courthouse on 19 December 2025, did not attend the hearing.

Nisanur Yıldırım's lawyer, Merve Bilgin, said, “The news content does not contain any statements that would constitute the crime of insulting the complainant. We stated this during the investigation phase and presented a screenshot of the EIA application.”

The lawyer for the complainant, Ersoy, stated that the complaints were ongoing and requested to join the case.

The prosecutor requested time to prepare their final opinion on the case.

The court accepted Ersoy and his lawyer's request to join the case as co-plaintiff “based on the possibility of direct harm from the crime.” The court also decided to send the file to the prosecutor's office for the preparation of the final opinion on the case and postponed the case until 18 February 2026.

Background of the case

An investigation was launched against the journalist by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office upon the complaint of Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, citing the article titled “Minister's company wins 150-million-dollar lottery” published in the 15 July 2025 issue of Nefes newspaper, and signed by Nisanur Yıldırım.

With the completion of the investigation, the indictment filed on 5 September 2025, on charges of “insulting a public official in connection with their duties” included a summary of the complaint submitted by the complainant's representative and the defense petition submitted to the case file through Yıldırım's lawyer.

The indictment stated that the complainant 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 hit the jackpot with 150 million dollars” "The allocated land, which is said to be worth 150 million dollars if put up for auction today, has been transferred 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 was revealed that Tourism Minister Ersoy's company Nebula, which traveled to Greece on a luxury yacht, had a hotel built on forest land in Antalya Kundu without a tender.” It was alleged that these statements constituted the crime of ”insulting a public official in connection with their duties."