A Turkish court has convicted three journalists from the print and online editions of the BirGün newspaper over a story about İstanbul’s chief public prosecutor on the charge of insulting a public official, Turkish Minute reported, citing Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service.
The İstanbul 23rd High Criminal Court sentenced BirGün daily executive publisher İbrahim Aydın to almost 12 months in prison, later converted to a fine of TL 41,666 ($992), while birgun.net’s managing editor Yaşar Gökdemir and journalist Uğur Koç were each fined TL 35,400 ($843). The court also acquitted all three journalists of the charge of “targeting individuals involved in counterterrorism efforts.” The travel bans imposed on Koç and Gökdemir were also lifted.
The journalists had faced up to five years in prison for publishing a February story about a journalist from the pro-government Sabah newspaper visiting İstanbul’s chief public prosecutor Akın Gürlek, information that had already been made public by Sabah itself.
Koç, Gökdemir and journalist Berkant Gültekin, who also works for birgun.net, were detained at their homes on February 8 for “targeting individuals engaged in counterterrorism efforts” and were released the next day. The first hearing was held on June 30. During the second hearing on September 22, the prosecutor demanded prison sentences of two to five years for Koç, Gökdemir and Aydın.
After the hearing, Koç told DW that the court had ignored their defense arguments, calling the verdict “part of the judicial pressure against dissent in Turkey.”
He added that the prosecutor’s opinion had not even included a justification for the charge on which they were convicted and said they would appeal the ruling.
Articles or comments about İstanbul’s top prosecutor have triggered several legal probes this year, including the investigation into İstanbul’s powerful opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as well as another probe late last year into main opposition leader Özgür Özel, who heads the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
İmamoğlu, who was detained on March 19 and later arrested on corruption charges criticized as politically motivated, has been sentenced to two prison terms, including one for allegedly insulting Gürlek. Both sentences are under appeal, but opposition leaders claim the charges are politically motivated.
Gürlek, a former judge notorious for his rulings against government critics, is accused by İmamoğlu and the CHP of using his judicial authority to target the party on orders from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government.
Turkey, which remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to press freedom organizations, dropped to 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May.
Turkish authorities frequently use broad counterterrorism laws and insult charges to prosecute members of the press.
