Turkish authorities brought 56 journalists into court in September after the summer judicial recess ended, according to a press freedom report compiled by opposition lawmaker Utku Çakırözer.
Çakırözer, a member of parliament from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the wave of cases underscores continuing pressure on the media.
“Courthouses filling with journalists the moment the recess ends is a national disgrace,” he wrote. “Under the Justice and Development Party [AKP] government, not only journalism but also the public’s right to information is being destroyed.”
Among those who appeared in court were TV anchor Ece Üner, journalist Elif Akgül of the Gazete Duvar news outlet and investigative reporter Asuman Aranca from T24, all facing separate cases linked to their reporting or commentary, according to the report. Özkan Bozkurt, owner of the YouTube channel Sarı Mikrofon, was arrested after filming a man firing a gun during a street interview — footage that quickly spread online and drew police scrutiny.
Television commentators Mehmet Tezkan, İbrahim Kahveci, Suat Toktaş, Timur Soykan and Barış Pehlivan faced separate court cases over remarks aired on Halk TV criticizing government policies and alleged corruption. Courts denied release requests for detained journalists Fatih Altaylı and Furkan Karabay, who remain in custody over separate cases related to social media commentary and their reporting on judicial affairs, according to the report.
T24 columnist Tolga Şardan was detained after reporting on an alleged theft of electronic signature passwords from the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), a story that implied a major breach in government data systems.
Journalist Metin Yoksu was questioned by prosecutors in connection with an investigation in the southeastern province of Artvin, in which several journalists have faced accusations of “disseminating terrorist propaganda.”
JinNews reporter Şehriban Aslan said she received death threats after covering an alleged child abduction case in Diyarbakır, a predominantly Kurdish province.
As part of a separate investigation into Can Holding, a conglomerate with interests in energy and media, authorities appointed trustees to three outlets under its control — Habertürk TV, Show TV and Bloomberg HT — raising concerns about state influence over private broadcasters.
The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) suspended TELE 1 for five days after the channel aired a subtitle comparing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a move regulators said was “disrespectful.” Channel executives Merdan Yanardağ, Namık Demir and Lale Özuğurlu were detained and later released under judicial supervision.
RTÜK also ordered BirGün TV, the digital branch of the left-leaning BirGün daily, to apply for a broadcast license within 72 hours, a step the critics said was intended to curb online journalism.
Online restrictions continued to expand, the report said. Accounts belonging to independent media and journalists, including the Yeni Yaşam newspaper, the Etkin News Agency and the Avrupa Demokrat news website, were blocked under government orders citing national security or public order.
Courts also restricted access to stories about a fire at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bodrum, which drew attention over safety and environmental concerns; reports on Cengiz Holding, a construction conglomerate frequently awarded state contracts; and coverage of the death of university student Rojin Kabaiş, whose case spurred protests over alleged police negligence.
Access was also blocked to the documentary “Memory of Sur,” which chronicles destruction in Diyarbakır’s historic Sur district during security operations in 2016, and to reports about the son of Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, following allegations circulated on social media.
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.
