Turkish prosecutors have indicted Pınar Gayıp, a journalist for the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), on terrorism charges five months after her arrest, citing her coverage of public events as evidence.
According to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office accused Gayıp of membership in the outlawed Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), which Turkey designates as a terrorist organization. The evidence cited in the indictment includes her coverage of a Saturday Mothers vigil in İstanbul’s Galata Square on July 24, 2025, and the funeral of prominent Saturday Mothers activist Emine Ocak.
Saturday Mothers is a group of activists seeking answers about relatives who disappeared in police custody during the 1980s and 1990s, following Turkey’s 1980 military coup and the subsequent period marked by a state of emergency. The group has held silent vigils every Saturday for decades, demanding accountability for enforced disappearances.
Prosecutors also cited routine journalistic materials, including a press card identifying Gayıp as an ETHA journalist, a photograph showing her wearing a vest bearing the logo of the socialist Atılım newspaper and a message she sent to a news group on Telegram. They also described her hunger strike while in police custody as evidence of what they characterized as conduct consistent with organizational discipline.
The indictment argues that ETHA functions as a media arm of the MLKP. In her testimony before a criminal court of peace, Gayıp denied the allegation, saying ETHA is a legally operating news agency that pays taxes.
The case is largely based on statements from 10 anonymous witnesses who sought leniency under Article 221 of the Turkish Penal Code, known as the “effective remorse” clause, which allows reduced sentences for suspects who provide information to prosecutors.
The case has been merged with a separate trial of others detained in the same operation and will be heard by the İstanbul 23rd High Criminal Court, with the first hearing scheduled for September 14, 2026.
Gayıp remains in pretrial detention in Bakırköy Women’s Prison. Courts have repeatedly rejected her requests for release, citing the terrorism-related nature of the charges and the alleged risk of flight.
Gayıp was detained in February along with 96 other people during nationwide operations targeting left-wing socialist and communist political and civil society groups. Forty-seven of those detained, including Gayıp, were subsequently arrested pending trial.
Gayıp was previously handed down a suspended six-month sentence in March 2024 for insulting state institutions in a case linked to her reporting on a lawyer convicted of harassment allegations involving an intern.
In Turkey, journalists critical of the government have faced increasing scrutiny under laws criminalizing “disinformation,” “insulting public officials” and “terrorist propaganda.” Dozens of reporters remain in prison, and many more are the subjects of ongoing investigations.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 22 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was further pointed out in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where it was ranked 163rd out of 180 nations.
