Turkish prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to three years for pro-government journalist Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı for claiming that the government would soon take control of the main opposition party, Turkish Minute reported.
Kütahyalı made the claims in a series of posts on X last week alleging that a court would cancel the results of the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 38th general congress, held in November 2023, at which Özgür Özel defeated long-time CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
An investigation into alleged irregularities at the CHP’s 2023 congress is still ongoing.
Citing “a security bureaucrat friend” who allegedly informed him of a planned police deployment from İstanbul to Ankara ahead of pre-dawn operations targeting two CHP-run municipalities, Kütahyalı also claimed a government-appointed trustee would take over the party’s administration and suggested that police raids would be carried out in the CHP-controlled Keçiören and Etimesgut districts of Ankara.
Following the claims, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into the journalist for “publicly disseminating misleading information,” a crime under Article 217 of the Turkish Penal Code. He was briefly detained and released under judicial supervision.
DHA reported that the journalist faces between one and three years in prison if convicted, according to an indictment recently drafted by the prosecutor’s office.
Following a public backlash, Kütahyalı walked back his comments and posted another message: “Neither is the CHP congress being annulled, nor is a trustee being appointed. I was wrong, and I’m glad I was.”
He later told investigators he had shared the posts “with passion and excitement,” according to his official statement.
Kütahyalı’s case comes amid broader government pressure on the CHP since last year that culminated with the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu last month on corruption charges.
A central figure in the opposition, İmamoğlu rose to prominence after his landmark victory in the 2019 İstanbul mayoral election and was re-elected in 2024. His arrest took place on the same day his party nominated him as its candidate for the next presidential election scheduled for 2028. İmamoğlu is seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival.
His detention on March 19 sparked the largest protests in Turkey since the anti-government Gezi Park demonstrations in 2013. Many critics view the charges as politically motivated.
