Turkish prosecutors have completed the indictments of three journalists from the left-wing Etkin News Agency (ETHA) seven months after they were arrested in a sweeping operation targeting socialist and other leftist organizations.
Pınar Gayıp, Nadiye Gürbüz and Elif Bayburt, who have been held in pretrial detention since February, face charges of membership in an armed terrorist organization, according to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
The three were among dozens of people detained on February 3 in an İstanbul-based investigation targeting the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), the Socialist Women’s Assemblies (SKM), the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF), ETHA, the DİSK-affiliated Limter-İş union, Polen Ecology, the BEKSAV arts and culture foundation and other organizations.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said at the time that the investigation concerned alleged links to the outlawed Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), which Turkey designates as a terrorist organization.
Gayıp, Gürbüz and Bayburt were arrested on February 5 along with ESP Co-Chair Murat Çepni and dozens of others. Prosecutors accused the arrestees of terrorist organization membership and, in some cases, disseminating terrorist propaganda.
The indictments of the three women were completed only after they had spent about seven months behind bars.
Gayıp will appear before the İstanbul 23rd High Criminal Court on September 14, Gürbüz before the İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court on September 15 and Bayburt before the İstanbul 24th High Criminal Court on September 29.
According to the MLSA, prosecutors cited the journalists’ work for ETHA, including demonstrations, funerals and commemorative events they covered, as well as telephone contacts and financial transactions as among the evidence against them.
Gayıp was previously questioned over her attendance at the funeral of Emine Ocak, a prominent member of the Saturday Mothers, a group of relatives of people who disappeared in police custody or were victims of unsolved political killings in 1980s-1990s Turkey, as well as over small funds transfers.
Her reporting activities were also cited during questioning, according to Medyascope.
Bayburt said in a message from prison that prosecutors had treated several examples of her reporting as incriminating evidence.
They included her coverage of commemorations for the 1995 Gazi neighborhood killings in İstanbul, in which 22 people were killed during days of unrest that began after gunmen attacked Alevi coffeehouses, and the 2015 Suruç suicide bombing, which killed 33 young activists preparing to take aid to the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani.
She also cited her reporting on protests that erupted on March 19 following the detention of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and on labor demonstrations over workplace deaths.
Bayburt said her volunteer work with the Health and Safety Labour Watch Turkey (İSİG), including reporting on the deaths of child workers, was also included among the accusations.
The journalists have denied wrongdoing and say they are being prosecuted for their professional activities.
“No matter where we are, we will continue to pursue the truth and be the voice of truth,” Gürbüz said in a message sent to the MLSA from Bakırköy Women’s Closed Prison following her arrest.
Gayıp said that if reporting on marginalized groups was considered a crime, ETHA journalists would “continue to commit that crime,” while Bayburt similarly said she was being accused of giving a voice to workers and oppressed groups.
The investigation was based in part on witness statements, participation in meetings and demonstrations, digital material and reports from Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), according to lawyers cited when the arrests were made.
ETHA reporter Müslüm Koyun, who was arrested in the same operation, was subsequently released at his second hearing. His trial on a charge of membership in a terrorist organization is scheduled to continue on October 27.
Koyun has denied the allegation, saying his socialist political activities had been presented as evidence of criminal conduct.
Gayıp has faced a terrorism-related prosecution over her journalism before. She and fellow ETHA journalist Semiha Şahin were moved from prison to house arrest in 2019 after spending 14 months in pretrial detention in a separate case involving terrorism-related charges.
The prosecutions come amid longstanding criticism of Turkey’s use of broadly worded terrorism laws and other criminal provisions against journalists covering politically sensitive issues.
Turkey is ranked 163rd out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 World Press Freedom Index, down four places from the previous year.
RSF said authoritarianism was deepening in Turkey and that counterterrorism laws, as well as charges such as “disinformation,” insulting the president and denigrating state institutions, were routinely used to repress journalism and imprison media professionals.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
