Tuğçe Yılmaz, an editor at the independent Turkish news outlet Bianet who was detained by police during an identity check in İstanbul on Tuesday evening, was released from custody on Wednesday after testifying to prosecutors about a report on Armenian youth, Turkish Minute reported.
Yılmaz, who was detained at the Kadıköy ferry terminal, was later transported to the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan early on Wednesday to testify to prosecutors.
The prosecutors asked the journalist about an article she wrote on April 24, 2024, titled,
“Young Armenians of Turkey speak: A mourning that has lasted 109 Years,” referring to the mass killings of Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
Armenians mark April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, and in her article Yılmaz referred to the mass killings of Armenians as genocide, a term Turkey categorically rejects. The case file was submitted to the court just two days ago, resulting in charges against the journalist.
According to Bianet, prosecutors are investigating Yılmaz under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes “insulting the Turkish nation” and has been widely criticized by human rights groups for restricting freedom of expression.
In her statement to the prosecutor, Yılmaz said that the article was based on interviews with two young members of Turkey’s Armenian community. She said the piece did not contain any language that insulted individuals, institutions or state authorities and denied the accusations against her.
Following her testimony the journalist was released from detention.
Writing on the Armenians in Turkey and their mass killings at the hands of the Ottoman Empire is a sensitive issue in Turkey that can lead to the prosecution of journalists, writers and others.
Supported by historians and scholars, Armenians say 1.5 million of their people died in a genocide committed under the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
Turkey accepts that both Armenians and Turks died in huge numbers as Ottoman forces fought czarist Russia but vehemently denies a deliberate policy of genocide and notes that the term had not been legally defined at the time.
Turkey, which is 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.
“Bianet,” which stands for “Independent Communications Network,” was established in January 2000 by a group of journalists. The platform, which focuses on human rights in Turkey, is mainly funded by a Swedish organization.
The news outlet is among the few outlets in Turkey that is not under government control.
