Turkish journalist Nevşin Mengü faces up to seven and a half years in prison after publishing an interview with Salih Müslim, one of the leaders of a Syrian Kurdish group that Turkey has designated as a terrorist organization, the Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office alleges that Mengü violated anti-terror laws by “disseminating propaganda for a terrorist organization through media.” The formal accusation seeks a prison sentence of one and a half years to seven and a half years. Mengü is also barred from leaving the country.
Müslim is the co-chairman of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which, along with its military wing, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey due to their ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK has been waging an armed insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s and has been officially designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Turkey has issued an INTERPOL red notice for Müslim’s arrest.
The formal charge follows an investigation initiated by the prosecutors immediately after Mengü’s interview was posted on YouTube on December 13.
Mengü was detained on December 17 as part of the investigation and brought before a magistrate court, which ordered her release under judicial control and imposed a travel ban.
Mengü removed the interview from the platform shortly after posting it, explaining in a social media statement that she acted on legal advice to avoid potential charges under the Turkish Penal Code.
“I wanted to include Salih Muslim’s assessment [of recent developments in Syria], but after warnings from legal experts that this could be interpreted as praising criminal activity, I decided to remove the video,” she said on the social media platform X.
