Turkish journalist Levent Gültekin has been released under judicial supervision after being briefly detained over comments made on his YouTube program this week, Turkish Minute reported.
Gültekin announced on X on Friday afternoon that he was released under a travel ban and a requirement to sign in regularly with the police.
“Hello everyone, I have been released under a signature requirement and an overseas travel ban. Thank you very much to everyone who sent messages of support,” Gültekin tweeted.
He was taken into custody around 1:20 a.m. Friday at a café in İstanbul’s Bebek neighborhood and taken to İstanbul police headquarters, his lawyer, Çağrı Çetin, told the Anka news agency.
The detention was linked to remarks Gültekin made on his YouTube broadcast on December 17. In that episode he commented on a recent investigation targeting Gain Medya, a Turkey-based streaming platform, over allegations including illegal betting and forming a criminal organization, which led to the arrest of three people.
Gültekin is known for his political commentary on YouTube, where his channel has nearly 450,000 subscribers and attracts a large audience for its analysis of current affairs.
In his police statement Gültekin denied the accusation of “publicly disseminating misleading information,” saying there was no concrete indication of any false claims in the video.
“There is no specific determination of what misleading information I allegedly spread. The video consists entirely of political commentary and analysis of current events. There is not a single sentence in which I insult anyone by name,” Gültekin said, according to information shared by his lawyer.
Under the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, journalists in Turkey frequently face detention or criminal charges due to their views or professional work.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) logged 24 cases of journalists detained in Turkey in 2025, including YouTube hosts, television anchors and the staff of a leading satirical magazine, under a barometer that RSF says records abuses linked to journalistic work.
The Paris-based watchdog’s “abuses in real time” database lists 24 Turkish journalists who were detained or put under house arrest between January and December 2025, with three still behind bars at year’s end.
Last week Turkish journalist and author Enver Aysever was arrested on charges of “inciting hatred and enmity or insulting the public” due to his remarks on a YouTube program criticizing people who embrace a right-wing ideology.
Turkey is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by RSF in May.
