A leading press freedom coalition has called on Turkish authorities to investigate the killing of journalist Hakan Tosun, who died after being beaten in October, urging them to determine whether his murder was linked to his journalistic work.
Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) made the appeal as part of a statement marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2, highlighting what it described as a pattern of violence and impunity across Europe.
MFRR noted that four journalists were killed in Europe in October, three in Ukraine and one in Turkey, and warned that the failure to bring the perpetrators to justice sends the message that “violence is an acceptable means to silence the press.”
Among them was Tosun, a journalist and activist known for his reporting on ecological destruction and local corruption, who was attacked and died from his injuries on October 13. MFRR urged Turkish authorities to determine whether Tosun’s journalistic work was the motive behind the attack.
The coalition stressed that the killing of a journalist undermines freedom of expression, threatens the public’s right to information and poses a serious risk to democracy. It urged governments to conduct thorough and independent investigations, protect journalists at risk and support independent media in carrying out their vital work.
In a recent report on press freedom violations in the first half of 2025, MFRR found that Turkey ranked third among EU candidate states in the number of violations, after Ukraine and Georgia. The report identified judicial harassment as the main tool used against independent media,
Turkey, one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, was ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
