Journalist and documentary producer Gökhan Mezarcı was briefly detained in Ankara on Friday on accusations of “insulting municipal officials,” the Mezopotamya news agency reported.
Mezarcı allegedly made the remarks on Thursday while reporting at a city animal shelter run by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality. Prosecutors sought his arrest, but a Turkish court later released him under judicial supervision.
He was taken into custody while covering a public statement delivered by animal rights activists outside the Ankara Courthouse over a controversial law permitting the killing of stray dogs and calling for its immediate suspension.
They argue that the law’s implementation causes irreparable harm to animal welfare and called for the law’s immediate suspension.
Turkey has seen a sharp decline in press freedom over the past decade, with journalism frequently targeted through legal pressure, arrests and media takeovers.
Journalists critical of the government and its policies have faced increasing scrutiny under laws criminalizing “disinformation,” “insulting public officials” and “terrorist propaganda.”
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 29 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was also highlighted in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which ranked Turkey 159th out of 180 nations.
