A Turkish court on Monday ordered the arrest of Kurdish journalist Nedim Oruç on terrorism-related charges, the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) reported.
Oruç, who works for the pro-Kurdish Ajansa Welat news agency, was detained on January 14 while reporting on demonstrations in the Cizre district of Şırnak province, where residents were protesting attacks targeting Kurdish neighborhoods in the Syrian city of Aleppo. His custody was extended twice before he was brought to testify before prosecutors.
The prosecutors accused him of “disseminating terrorist propaganda,” citing his coverage of a ceremony in Kandil, Iraq, where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced its withdrawal from Turkey on October 26, 2025, as well as his reporting on damaged cemeteries and posts on social media. Authorities also allege that Oruç’s fingerprints were found on a banned magazine during a 2016 raid on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) office in Cizre.
Oruç denied the accusations, saying his journalistic work is being criminalized.
Founded in the late 1970s by Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
DFG condemned the arrest as a serious intervention in society’s right to information and press freedom. DİSK Basın-İş, a press workers’ union affiliated with the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), called for Oruç’s immediate release and urged that all those responsible for the violence and judicial process leading to his detention be held accountable.
Turkey frequently brings terrorism-related charges against journalists and media workers, a practice that has affected reporters covering the Kurdish issue as well as other sensitive topics.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 28 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was further pointed out in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where it was ranked 159th out of 180 nations.
