Journalists, union representatives and opposition politicians gathered in Ankara on Thursday to protest the arrest of journalists Alican Uludağ and İsmail Arı, calling for their immediate release and an end to pressure on the media, Turkish Minute reported, citing the BirGün news website.
The demonstration took place outside the BirGün’s Ankara bureau, where participants chanted slogans and held placards demanding freedom for the two journalists.
Uludağ, a reporter for Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service, was arrested on February 20, while Arı, a journalist for the left-wing BirGün newspaper, was detained on March 21 and later jailed pending trial.
Several press organizations took part in the protest, including the Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD), the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) and the DİSK Press Union (DİSK Basın-İş), along with opposition lawmakers and civil society representatives.
In a joint statement read aloud by TGS Ankara branch head Sinan Tartanoğlu, the groups said the arrests were part of a broader pattern targeting journalists and undermining press freedom.
“Journalists are not enemies. This hostile legal approach must be abandoned,” the statement said.
The groups also questioned the legal basis for the charges against Arı, who was arrested under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code, commonly known as the “disinformation law.”
They said Arı had previously complied with legal procedures in multiple investigations and criticized the use of pretrial detention in such cases.
Speaking at the protest, BirGün Ankara bureau chief Nurcan Bilge Gökdemir warned that the arrests reflect a broader crackdown on journalism.
“İsmail Arı is not the first journalist to be arrested under this system. If solidarity does not grow, he will not be the last,” she said.
Participants included lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) as well as representatives of labor unions and press groups.
The protest followed criticism from bar associations and press freedom organizations, which described the arrests as a serious threat to freedom of expression.
Arı was detained in Tokat on March 21 while visiting family for the Eid holiday and later transferred to Ankara, where he was put in pretrial detention on charges including disseminating misleading information.
Uludağ was arrested in February on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in social media posts and remains in pretrial detention, with no indictment filed.
Turkey’s media environment has grown increasingly restrictive in recent years, particularly for journalists covering issues that are politically sensitive or critical of the government.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 26 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.
