A Turkish journalist is standing trial after reporting on a hotel project linked to the private company of Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) reported.
A procedural hearing was held on Friday at Ankara’s 41st Criminal Court of First Instance in the case against Nefes Gazetesi reporter Nisanur Yıldırım, who is charged with insulting a public official and defamation.
The case was opened after Ersoy filed a criminal complaint over a July 15, 2025, article headlined “The minister’s company hits a $150 million jackpot.” The report examined a luxury hotel project in the southern province of Antalya tied to companies linked to Ersoy and raised questions about the scale of its financial gains.
Following the complaint the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul opened an investigation and later filed an indictment against Yıldırım, alleging the article contained unlawful and unethical statements that harmed the minister’s reputation.
Opposition politicians and media reports have said the project involves a high-value plot of land and could generate profits estimated at between $130 million and $150 million. Critics have questioned whether the minister’s company benefited from state decisions related to land use and development.
At the hearing Yıldırım defended her reporting, telling the court the article concerned commercial activity carried out by a private company. “The subject of my report was a hotel construction project in the tourism sector,” she said. “This is a private company operating in the private sector. I was only doing journalism.”
Representatives from the MLSA and the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) attended the hearing to observe the proceedings.
Under Turkish law, insulting a public official can carry criminal penalties, including fines or prison sentences. Journalists and rights groups say such provisions are frequently used against reporters who scrutinize senior officials.
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.
