Twenty-seven press freedom and human rights groups on Wednesday called on Turkish authorities to release journalists detained or arrested in the run-up to the NATO summit in Ankara, accusing the government of using disinformation and counterterrorism laws to suppress independent reporting.
The groups said the cases were part of a broader pre-summit crackdown on critical media and civil society, as Turkey hosted NATO heads of state and government and partner countries on July 7-8. The Media Freedom Rapid Response platform documented 11 journalists and media workers detained in the previous two weeks, many in cases the groups said had no connection to the summit.
The statement was led by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and signed by organizations including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Press Institute (IPI), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ, the Index on Censorship, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), PEN International, Kaos GL, the Media and Law Studies Association and the P24 Platform for Independent Journalism.
The groups said the detentions coincided with the denial of accreditation to independent Turkish media outlets seeking to cover the summit. Outlets including Cumhuriyet, Sözcü, ANKA, T24 and Medyascope said their journalists had been denied accreditation. NATO said it relies on host nations’ assessments for access by domestic journalists and was in contact with Turkish authorities.
Turkey’s broadcasting regulator, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), also issued a directive before the summit urging broadcasters to observe a “national security perspective” in news and discussion programs. The July 5 directive said RTÜK monitoring experts would be watching broadcast content during the summit.
Among those cited by the rights groups was Yıldız Tar, editor-in-chief of the LGBTQ+ news outlet Kaos GL, who was detained on June 23 during operations linked by rights groups to summit security measures and arrested on June 25 on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization. The groups said Tar was questioned about Kaos GL’s reporting on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “Year of the Family” campaign, which emphasizes conservative family values.
The groups also cited the cases of Doğa Baskan of Evrensel, arrested June 25 on suspicion of spreading disinformation in an online report that CPJ said was published without editorial approval and quickly removed; Ali Çağatay, a radio host for Sputnik Turkey, arrested pending trial June 27 over a social media post alleging police corruption; and Müberra Ünsal of Muzır.org, who was detained June 28 while covering an LGBTQ+ march in Istanbul and released the same evening.
Other journalists detained in the period included Gülnur Saydam of Cumhuriyet, who was questioned over her reporting on criminal gangs; Ceren Erdoğdu of OdaTV, Buse Söğütlü of T24 and Abbas Vural of Niha+, who were detained in July 5 raids; Berfin Ay, an editor at the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, who was held after being stopped at a border checkpoint; BirGün reporter Kayhan Ayhan, who has covered hearings involving jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu; and Hazar Dost of the investigative journalism platform Ortak, who said he was mistreated in custody after being detained July 6.
The groups said the cases showed a pattern of using Turkey’s disinformation law, counterterrorism legislation and police powers to intimidate journalists. They also raised concerns about the confiscation of journalists’ devices, demands for passwords and restrictions on access to lawyers, saying the measures violated privacy, legal counsel and free expression protections under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Turkish prosecutors have said earlier counterterrorism operations were aimed at uncovering militant group activity and did not refer to the NATO summit. Rights groups and the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) have said summit security measures, including restrictions on gatherings, were being used as a pretext to curb dissent.
The signatories called on Turkey to end the targeting of independent media, release detained journalists, drop charges stemming from journalistic work and stop using counterterrorism and disinformation laws against reporters.
“During coverage of an international event, journalists should be free to do their jobs without fear of reprisal, harassment or detention,” the groups said, urging NATO officials attending the summit to raise the issue with Turkish authorities.
Turkey, which remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to press freedom organizations, dropped to 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May.
