A Turkish court on Thursday ruled for the arrest of freelance journalist Metin Yoksu, part of an investigation led by prosecutors in the northeastern province of Artvin, Turkish Minute reported, citing press freedom groups and local media reports.
Yoksu, who voluntarily appeared at the courthouse in Batman, southeastern Turkey, was taken into custody after questioning and later arrested by a criminal court.
The investigation, the details of which have not been made public, led to the detention of seven other journalists last week, four of whom — Ozan Cırık, Eylem Yılmaz, Dicle Baştürk and Ömer Bülenter — were subsequently arrested. Semra Pelek, Melisa Efe and Yavuz Akengin were released under judicial supervision.
The charges reportedly relate to alleged membership in a terrorist organization, a charge frequently used by Turkish authorities against journalists and critics. It is not yet known with which terrorist organization the journalists are accused of being affiliated.
Yoksu was arrested as part of the same investigation.
Baştürk’s lawyer, Yücel Arslan, told the Anka news agency that the authorities were using the journalists’ reporting and the payments they received for their work as evidence of criminal activity.
Yoksu, known for his environmental and labor-focused reporting, said before his arrest that police had raided his home days earlier. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been investigated for doing my job,” he wrote on X. “Whatever I did yesterday, I’ll do again today. There’s no need to raid my house, just call, and I’ll come. I’m going to the prosecutor’s office. Whatever the result, I will always be a journalist.”
After his arrest Yoksu said no specific news articles were mentioned during his interrogation. “I defended all my reporting. I wrote with honor and dignity about the rights of workers and the environment, about insects, birds and fish. That’s why I’m in jail.”
He added that his investigation into storks was left unfinished and that the Tigris River’s pollution was killing fish daily. “Leopard barbel in Cizre are dying. I can’t be their voice anymore. That’s my only concern. Take care of my stories, let no one drop their pen. See you soon.”
The Turkish Journalists’ Union (TGC) criticized the arrest of Yoksu, saying it’s yet another example of press freedom being undermined in Turkey. The TGC said that Yoksu voluntarily appeared before prosecutors but was still jailed.
“We ask again: Why are journalists being jailed? Why is the investigation kept secret? Why is journalism being criminalized? Release the arrested journalists,” the TGC said in its statement.
The prosecution and arrest of journalists due to their professional activities is a daily occurrence in Turkey, which has had a poor record in press freedom for years.
According to a recent report from Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 25 journalists were arrested in Turkey in the first quarter of 2025, while dozens of others were prosecuted.
The pressure on the media grew further in Turkey after a failed coup in July 2016, when the Turkish government summarily shut down nearly 200 media outlets due to their alleged links to terrorism or their alleged involvement in disseminating terrorist propaganda.
The post-coup crackdown also included the arrest of dozens of journalists, which briefly made Turkey the second-worst jailer of journalists in the world after China.
Turkey ranks 159th among 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index published in May.
