A Turkish journalist was briefly detained on Friday on accusations of publicly disseminating misinformation in social media posts related to school shootings in the southeastern provinces of Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş last week, the soL Haber news website reported.
In the posts cited as grounds for his detention, Turgay Kılıç said “attack bargaining” was taking place on social media platforms while arguing that mafia-themed television series also influenced the incidents.
Kılıç also criticized government officials, saying they failed to take responsibility and instead focused solely on blaming social media.
Turkey was shaken by two school attacks last week. On April 14 a former student opened fire at a school in Şanlıurfa injuring 16 people before killing himself. On April 15 a separate attack at a middle school in Kahramanmaraş left nine people dead and 20 others injured. The suspect, a 14-year-old eighth-grade student, died after being stabbed in the leg.
In his statement to prosecutors in İzmir Kılıç denied the accusations, saying he made the posts in his capacity as a journalist. He was later referred to a court, which released him under judicial supervision.
The Journalists’ Union of Turkey criticized the detention, saying the use of Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code continues to pose a threat to freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
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.
