Turkish prosecutors have opened an investigation into Sendika.Org reporter Nisan Çıra for allegedly inciting hatred and enmity with photographs she shared on social media from protests against a NATO summit in Ankara, the news outlet reported.
The investigation concerns photographs Çıra posted on X on June 27 showing demonstrations against the July 7-8 NATO summit. Prosecutors are investigating the posts under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes inciting hatred and enmity among the public.
The X account from which Çıra shared the photographs was restricted in Turkey later the same day on national security and public order grounds. After she opened a new account, authorities blocked access to it as well on July 7 under the same legal grounds.
Turkish authorities carried out sweeping operations ahead of the NATO summit, detaining scores of people, including journalists and blocking access to numerous X accounts.
Çıra described the investigation as part of increasingly arbitrary efforts to obstruct the press, saying journalists are first physically prevented by the police and gendarmerie from reporting in the field and then subjected to investigations and criminal cases that lack a legal basis.
Çıra was previously detained in July 2024 while covering a workers’ protest in Ankara after police intervened against demonstrators. She was later released without charges.
Turkey has seen a sharp decline in press freedom over the past decade, with journalists increasingly targeted through criminal investigations, prosecutions, detentions, online censorship and restrictions on news coverage. Press freedom groups have long criticized the Turkish government for using terrorism and disinformation charges, as well as national security and public order justifications, to criminalize journalism and restrict freedom of expression.
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.
