A Turkish court on Tuesday handed down prison sentences to two Kurdish journalists on charges of targeting a public official in their outlets’ reports alleging that a gendarmerie commander tortured civilians during a raid in southeastern Turkey, the Mezopotamya news agency (MA) reported.
The Mardin 2nd High Criminal Court sentenced JINNEWS editor Öznur Değer to 18 months in prison and former Yeni Yaşam editor-in-chief Osman Akın to 10 months. The court suspended Akın’s sentence, meaning he will not serve time unless he commits a similar offense within the next five years. Değer’s sentence, however, was not suspended.
The case stemmed from reports published in July 2024 by the outlets for which Değer and Akın had editorial responsibility, about allegations that Gendarmerie Maj. Kamil Aksoy, then commander of a battalion in Mardin province, tortured civilians during a raid on a house in Eskihisar, a rural neighborhood in the Nusaybin district.
Prosecutors sought prison sentences for both journalists, arguing that the report was not protected by freedom of the press.
Değer’s lawyer, Erdal Kuzu, said information identifying Aksoy had already been publicly available and had appeared in earlier news reports, citing a response from the Milliyet newspaper confirming prior publication.
Kuzu said the report concerned allegations of torture and was part of Değer’s journalistic work, asking the court to acquit her.
Değer has faced multiple investigations and prosecutions over her reporting and social media activity. In September prosecutors indicted her in a separate case on accusations of repeatedly disseminating terrorist propaganda through social media posts containing news reports and photographs. She faces up to five years in prison, with the first hearing scheduled for January 19, 2027.
In October 2025 she was sentenced to more than three years in prison 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.
In July 2024 Değer was also sentenced to more than six years in prison on charges of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). An appeals court upheld her conviction in November 2025, and the case is now 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, 25 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.
