Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to five years in prison for Öznur Değer, editor of the pro-Kurdish JINNEWS agency, over social media posts containing news reports and photographs that authorities consider terrorist propaganda, the Bianet news website reported.
The Van 4th High Criminal Court accepted an indictment accusing Değer of repeatedly disseminating propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Her first hearing is scheduled for January 19, 2027.
Prosecutors cited five news reports Değer quoted or reposted on X, including a February 2 report by the Yeni Yaşam newspaper quoting senior PKK figure Cemil Bayık and featuring photographs of Bayık and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, as well as a JINNEWS report she shared on February 15.
The indictment also cited photographs Değer took during a November 25, 2025, march in Van marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, including one showing demonstrators carrying a banner featuring Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of the PKK who was killed in Paris in 2013.
Değer was questioned by police in May as part of the investigation. She denied the accusation, saying her posts were journalistic activity and that the reports remain publicly accessible. She also said the investigation contradicted the ongoing peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK.
Designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 but said in May 2025 it would disband and end its armed campaign. The Turkish Parliament in August established a special parliamentary commission to oversee the peace process.
In a separate case Değer was sentenced to more than three years in prison in October 2025 on terrorism propaganda charges over social media posts about Kurdish journalists Cihan Bilgin and Nazım Daştan, who were killed in a drone strike in northern Syria in December 2024. She remains free pending appeal.
In another case, the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court sentenced Değer and six other Kurdish journalists to more than six years in prison in July 2024 on charges of membership in a terrorist organization. The Ankara Regional Court of Justice upheld Değer’s conviction in November 2025, after which she appealed the ruling before the Supreme Court of Appeals.
Turkey frequently brings terrorism-related charges against journalists and media workers, a practice that has affected reporters covering the Kurdish issue, a reference to the demand for equal rights by the country’s Kurdish population and their struggle for recognition.
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.
