Turkish journalist and environmental activist Hakan Tosun is in intensive care after being brutally assaulted in İstanbul, in what his family and colleagues suspect was a targeted attack related to his reporting on environmental issues, Turkish Minute reported.
Tosun, 50, who had been missing since Friday, was found unconscious and severely beaten in Esenyurt late that evening. He was taken to a hospital, where examinations revealed a brain hemorrhage and his condition was described as critical.
His sister Öznur Tosun said the family reported him missing after losing contact. “My brother got off public transport and disappeared while walking home. We filed a missing persons report but couldn’t find his name in any hospital records. We were called at four in the morning and told he was in the hospital,” she said.
She criticized both the delay in communication and the difficulty in obtaining information about her brother after arriving at the hospital, saying, “The police directed me there, but there were no officers at the hospital. We tried to convince the security guard [to give us information]. They couldn’t even tell us if he was alive.”
Öznur Tosun added that the information she received from doctors at İstanbul’s Çam Sakura Hospital led her to believe the assault “was not a mugging but an attempted murder.”
“There are no signs of injury on his body, only bruises on his face and neck. We were told that his brain functions are not active,” she said, adding that her brother’s identity was confirmed only through his fingerprints.
On Sunday evening members of the Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) gathered outside the hospital in solidarity with Tosun. Speaking on their behalf, attorney Hakan Bozyurt announced that they had been informed that two suspects were arrested in connection with the attack. He said authorities claimed that the family could not be reached sooner because Tosun’s identity “was confirmed only late at night.”
Bozyurt said footage of the incident exists in the case file but stressed that “witness testimonies and a full review of security camera footage are necessary to uncover the truth.” He added that the association plans to submit formal requests for the evidence, saying that “all witness statements and available evidence are of critical importance.”
He also called for solidarity, saying, “As his friends and colleagues, we declare that Hakan Tosun is not alone. We will all follow this case.”
