Turkey experienced a growing press freedom crisis in 2025, with 29 journalists arrested and the pretrial detention of media workers rising more than fivefold over the previous year, according to the new annual report of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
The İstanbul-based freedom of expression watchdog said authorities detained 53 journalists over the course of the year, of whom 29 were arrested, monitoring 287 free speech trials and 461 hearings throughout 2025 as judicial pressure on the media intensified.
“The mass arrests following the İmamoğlu protests, the surge in terrorism charges against media workers, the normalization of pretrial detention as a punitive tool, and the escalation of internet censorship all marked a deepening crisis for press freedom,” the MLSA said in the report.
The report also documented intensified internet censorship in Turkey. According to the MLSA, authorities blocked access to 1,306 pieces of online content and blocked 3,330 URLs during the first seven months of 2025, largely on national security grounds.
According to the report, pretrial detentions in freedom of expression cases increasingly functioned as a punitive instrument rather than a precautionary legal measure. The most common accusation brought against journalists was membership in a terrorist organization, followed by insulting the president and violating Turkey’s law on meetings and demonstrations.
The MLSA also highlighted the extensive use of Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code, widely known as disinformation law, against journalists and other critics. Introduced in 2022, the provision requires prison sentences of one to three years for those found guilty of publicly spreading false information in a way that causes concern, fear or panic among the public.
The report also cited six Constitutional Court rulings finding rights violations in 30 cases brought by the MLSA in 2025, reflecting the scale of the press freedom crisis.
Founded in 2018, the MLSA monitors freedom of expression trials in Turkey and provides legal support to journalists, activists and others facing prosecutions over charges related to press freedom and freedom of expression.
