Turkish journalist Ufuk Şanlı has started a hunger strike to protest what he describes as “unlawful practices“ by the prosecutor, the TR724 news website reported.
Şanlı was arrested on July 11 on allegations that he acted as an informant for Cevheri Güven, an investigative journalist living in exile whose videos on YouTube about the Turkish government’s corruption and shadowy relations attract hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Journalist Şanlı had previously served a seven-year, six-month prison sentence on terrorism charges due to his alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement. He was conditionally released in 2021.
Şanlı previously worked for the Zaman daily, which was shut down by the Turkish government after an attempted coup in 2016 as part of a crackdown on the Gülen movement. Following the abortive putsch, Turkish authorities closed more than 180 media outlets and prosecuted hundreds of journalists over alleged ties to the movement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations revealed in 2013 implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan as well as some of his family members and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following the failed coup in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
In an August 20 letter to journalist Ahmet Dönmez, Şanlı said he would continue his hunger strike until his indictment is drafted. He recalled waiting six months for an indictment and another eight months for trial after his first arrest in 2016.
Şanlı accused the prosecutors of ruining his life with “baseless intelligence reports” and condemned “dishonorable figures posing as journalists“ for allegedly collaborating with the intelligence service to target innocent people. He specifically named Deputy Chief Prosecutor Can Tuncay, prosecutor Burak Güner and staff at OdaTV, a pro-government and ultranationalist news website, calling them “executioners of dignity.“
Şanlı also revealed that he prepared a will and sent it to a journalist friend in Germany, to be delivered to PEN International, Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yücel and The Washington Post if anything were to happen to him.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has repeatedly ruled against Turkey for detaining journalists without sufficient evidence. But authorities continue to use counterterrorism laws and broad charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” or “spreading propaganda” to target critics.
Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, reported that 32 journalists remain in prison in Turkey. In the first quarter of 2025 Turkish courts tried 157 journalists in 90 separate cases. During this period 25 journalists were arrested, while 50 were taken into custody.
According to Reporters Without Borders’ 2025 World Press Freedom Index, Turkey ranks 159th out of 180 countries, making it one of the most repressive environments for independent journalism in Europe.
