Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has once again been listed among the world’s worst violators of press freedom in the 2025 edition of Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) “Press Freedom Predators” list.
The report profiles 34 individuals and entities identified as the most aggressive suppressors of independent journalism. RSF categorizes predators under five forms of repression: political, security, economic, legal and social. Each profile details the methods used to silence media, notable quotes and their country’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index.
President Erdoğan appears under the “legal” category, marking his third appearance after previous listings in 2016 and 2021. Turkey ranks 159th on a list of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index.
According to RSF, since the 2023 elections, Turkish media professionals have faced escalating violence and arrests during protests. The Erdoğan government routinely invokes charges such as “disinformation,” “membership in a terrorist organization,” “terrorist propaganda” and “insulting the president” to detain and prosecute journalists.
At least 250 journalists have been tried in the past 11 years for “insulting the president,” including 19 to date in 2025. Fourteen journalists have been sentenced to prison or fined in connection with their work.
RSF also documented the detention of 20 journalists in Turkey in 2025, with three others put under house arrest. It also reported on the arrest and conviction of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin for his coverage of a Stockholm demonstration by the outlawed Kurdistan’s Workers’ Party (PKK). Designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK has waged war in Turkey’s southeast since 1984 and announced its dissolution in May to pursue a democratic struggle for Kurdish rights, following a historic call by its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned since 1999.
RSF also cited the detention of five staff members from the LeMan satirical magazine over a cartoon in its June 26 issue that allegedly depicted the Prophet Muhammad and the Prophet Moses and was deemed insulting religious values, a claim the magazine denied, saying the illustration was a political critique of Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
The press freedom organization describes Erdoğan’s deadly weapon against the media as the charge of “insulting the president.”
Erdoğan’s profile also included a quote from a media awards program at the presidential palace on May 6, 2025, where he defended his record on press freedom:
“Our people are clearly being provoked by provocative questions and an aggressive tone. When the judiciary responds to insults, there’s an outcry invoking freedom of the press (…) We are glad to have left behind those shameful days when headlines were used to directly influence the government and so-called journalists stood guard outside religious schools. Today, Turkey has a much freer media ecosystem than before 2002.” Erdoğan said.
Other figures named on the list include President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Azerbaijan İlham Aliyev, Islamic Republic of Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, President of Argentina Javier Milei, Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
RSF also cited the Israeli Defense Forces for the killing of journalists; Elon Musk for promoting mistrust of the media; and tech giants Alphabet (Google and YouTube) and Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Threads), for financially weakening the media.
“This latest edition of the Press Freedom Predators highlights the diversity of the threats” RSF Director-General Thibaut Bruttin said. “RSF points out that impunity is not inevitable, that those who trample on the freedom to inform must be named and held accountable.”
