The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday called on Turkish authorities to halt the prosecution of journalists over comments made on talk shows, with eight media workers facing prison in separate cases.
Journalists from pro-opposition broadcasters TELE1 and Halk TV have been under investigation for either “publicly disseminating misleading information” or “insulting the president.”
The CPJ’s Turkey representative, Özgür Öğret, called the cases “the most recent in a series of unjust judicial actions meant to muzzle the press and political opposition,” emphasizing that critical commentary is “a crucial part of a working democracy.”
At TELE1 senior staff members Merdan Yanardağ, İhsan Demir and Musa Özuğurlu were investigated following a subtitle error that appeared to equate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a broadcast. They were charged with “publicly insulting the president” and released under judicial supervision on September 23.
Separately, an indictment of Barış Pehlivan and Timur Soykan was accepted on September 19, accusing them of “publicly disseminating misleading information” for their remarks on the judiciary made during a program aired in October 2024 on Halk TV. The indictment was accepted by a criminal court of first instance.
In another case Halk TV journalists Mehmet Tezkan and İbrahim Kahveci, along with the station’s editor-in-chief, Suat Toktaş, were charged with “insulting the president” after comparing Erdoğan’s actions to those of Israel’s in Gaza during a broadcast in September 2024. This indictment was also accepted by a first instance court.
Turkey is ranked third among European Union candidate countries in press freedom violations in the first half of 2025, with 64 incidents affecting at least 157 journalists and media entities, according to a new report by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR).
The country, which has been suffering from a poor record of freedom of the press for years, also ranks 159th among 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2025 World Press Freedom Index.
