Social media users on Wednesday launched a campaign calling on Turkish authorities to release academic Aslı Aydemir, who has been held in pretrial detention for more than five months over allegations that she injured a police officer during unrest linked to protests against a satirical magazine, the NuMedya24 news website reported.
Aydemir was detained following a June 30 protest against the LeMan satirical magazine over a cartoon alleged to have insulted religious values. According to the reports she reacted to a group that attacked the magazine’s offices, and during subsequent police intervention she was accused of injuring a police officer with a glass in her hand.
Aydemir was detained at her home and arrested on July 4 on charges of “intentional injury,” despite supporters’ claims that no camera footage or witness testimony supports the allegation.
The first indictment, prepared on July 9, was rejected by the court due to insufficient evidence. A second indictment drafted on November 13 was also dismissed, this time over inconsistencies. A third indictment prepared on December 15 changed the charge to “resisting an officer to prevent the performance of duty.”
Labor unions, colleagues, the Human Rights Association (İHD), feminist organizations and a group of academics known as Academics for Peace launched a campaign on X calling for Aydemir’s release, under the hashtag #AslıAydemirSerbestBırakılmalı (Aslı Aydemir Must Be Released).
In a statement Academics for Peace said Aydemir, who has been detained for 166 days, was imprisoned for reacting to attacks on freedom of thought and expression.
The Association of Psychologists for Social Solidarity (TODAP) said it would stand by Aydemir at her first court hearing, scheduled for February 12, 2026.
A signatory of the “Academics for Peace” declaration, Aydemir was previously dismissed from her position at Dicle University under an emergency decree in December 2017.
In 2016 more than 2,000 scholars signed the “Academics for Peace” petition calling for an end to security operations in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast. The government accused the signatories of spreading “terrorist propaganda,” leading to dismissals, prosecutions and overseas travel bans.
The controversy surrounding Aydemir’s detention stems from a cartoon published in LeMan’s June 26 issue, which allegedly depicted the Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Moses. Cartoonist Doğan Pehlevan and three staff members of LeMan were detained for “incitement to hatred and enmity and openly insulting religious values.” They were later released under judicial supervision. An arrest warrant was also issued for the magazine’s editor-in-chief who is reportedly in France.
