Turkish prosecutors have filed an indictment against Feyza Nur Çalıkoğlu, a journalist for the Karar news website, following her investigative report on alleged abuse in deportation centers, the Bianet news website reported.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, acting on a complaint from the Presidency of Migration Management under the Ministry of Interior, filed an indictment against Çalıkoğlu for “spreading misleading information” under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison.
Article 217/A is a controversial provision introduced in 2022 that has been widely criticized for its vague language and potential to criminalize journalism.
The first hearing in the case was held on September 18 at the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance in İstanbul, with the next hearing scheduled for February 10, 2026.
Çalıkoğlu’s report, published on November 7, 2024, cited lawyers representing migrants and referenced findings from several human rights organizations, including the Turkish Human Rights and Equality Institution (TİHEK). The article detailed suicides, suicide attempts and systematic abuse at the Çatalca Deportation Center, contradicting official denials from the Presidency of Migration Management. Çalıkoğlu emphasized that her reporting was grounded in expert opinionsand documented evidence, underscoring the public interest nature of the story.
In response to the indictment, Özgül Saki, a member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), submitted a parliamentary question demanding accountability for the treatment of migrants and transparency in the legal proceedings against Çalıkoğlu.
In its 2024 Annual Human Rights Report, the US State Department stated that while the Turkish government maintained formal cooperation with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), it simultaneously intensified crackdowns on undocumented migrants, marked by a surge in deportations and aggressive police operations. The report emphasized serious concerns raised by nongovernmental organizations, including violations of due process, abuse in removal centers and coercive tactics used to pressure migrants into accepting so-called “voluntary” returns to conflict-ridden areas of Syria.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 33 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was further highlighted in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, where the country was ranked 159th out of 180 nations, as published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
