A Turkish court on Thursday handed down a suspended sentence to Kurdish journalist Rahime Karvar on conviction of terrorism-related charges, according to the Expression Interrupted press freedom watchdog.
The İstanbul 24th High Criminal Court handed down a suspended sentence of more than two years to Karvar for “aiding a terrorist organization.” The İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office cited her role in moderating a program for Medya Haber TV, which it described as a “media outlet affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK],” as evidence in the indictment.
Founded in the late 1970s by Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a series of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict which cost more than 40,000 lives. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, including the EU and the US.
While the court upheld Karvar’s international travel ban, it lifted restrictions on her movement within Turkey, as well as the requirement to wear an electronic bracelet and report twice a month to a police station.
Karvar was arrested on January 20 along with five other journalists accused of membership in the PKK in connection with their journalistic work. She remained in pretrial detention until her release pending trial on June 12.
In a separate investigation, the Mersin Public Prosecutor’s Office alleged that Karvar was connected to digital materials seized during a raid on the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) office in İstanbul. The court merged both cases on September 16.
Prosecutors described the HDK as a “legal front organization” operating as an “alternative assembly” to the Turkish Parliament and alleged that it follows directives from the PKK and the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). They also cited a 2019 ruling by Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals that labelled the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), an entity closely linked to the HDK, as a terrorist organization.
Authorities further claimed that HDK members were involved in past civil unrest, including the 2014 Kobani protests and the 2015 urban clashes in southeastern Turkey following the collapse of Ankara’s peace talks with the PKK, and alleged that some within the organization facilitated recruitment efforts for PKK-linked militant groups, such as the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Women’s Defense Units (YPJ) and the Free Women’s Units (YJA-Star).
The ruling comes amid a broader crackdown on the pro-Kurdish media in Turkey, where authorities have blocked access to news outlets and prosecuted journalists on terrorism-related charges.
Press freedom advocates say these measures aim to silence independent reporting on Kurdish issues and military operations in Syria.
According to Expression Interrupted, 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.
