Turkey’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the 2023 arrest of journalist Merdan Yanardağ, editor-in-chief of the pro-opposition Tele1 TV station, violated his rights, the Media and Law Association reported on Monday.
Yanardağ was arrested on June 27, 2023, over remarks he made on a TV program about the prison conditions of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The İstanbul 30th High Criminal Court sentenced him in October 2023 to two-and-a-half years in prison on charges of “praising crime and criminals” and “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization,” but released him pending appeal.
In reviewing Yanardağ’s application, the Constitutional Court ruled that his statements did not amount to praising or justifying the violent methods of the PKK and that his arrest therefore violated his right to liberty and security.
The court ordered the government to pay Yanardağ 166,500 Turkish lira (approximately $4,000) in non-pecuniary damages. Yanardağ’s appeal of his conviction remains under review by the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice.
The case stemmed from Yanardağ’s televised remarks criticizing the government’s treatment of Öcalan. During the program, he questioned the legality of Öcalan’s “isolation” and described him as an intelligent person with excellent political insight.
“The isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan has no place in the law. It should be lifted. He is unable to even meet with his family [members] and lawyer. … Öcalan is an extremely intelligent person who reads a lot of books and correctly understands … politics,” Yanardağ said.
The investigation was launched after Mehmet Ali Çelebi, a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), targeted Yanardağ by sharing a video on social media that selectively compiled excerpts from his remarks.
Yanardağ said his comments had been taken out of context and that he was actually criticizing the prospect of a new peace process the AKP government was considering to launch with the PKK.
Yanardağ was arrested again on October 26, 2025, on charges of “political espionage” along with İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and his former campaign manager Necati Özkan. He described the new investigation as “a fifth-grade conspiracy” and “a poorly fabricated plot.” His station was placed under the control of a government-appointed trustee.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 28 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was further pointed out in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where it was ranked 159th out of 180 nations.
