{"id":33492,"date":"2026-03-05T15:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/33492\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T15:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:18:10","slug":"turkey-detained-8-journalists-arrested-5-in-february-main-opposition-lawmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/33492\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey detained 8 journalists, arrested 5 in February: main opposition lawmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Turkish authorities detained eight journalists and arrested five in February, while reporters appeared in court at least 50 times during the month, according to a press freedom report released by a lawmaker from the country\u2019s main opposition party.<\/p>\n

According to the Cumhuriyet daily, the monthly report was published by Utku \u00c7ak\u0131r\u00f6zer, a former journalist and a member of parliament from the Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP).<\/p>\n

Among those arrested was Alican Uluda\u011f, the Ankara correspondent for the Deutsche Welle Turkish service. Uluda\u011f was detained at his home in Ankara over social media posts and later transferred to Istanbul, where he was jailed in Silivri Prison.<\/p>\n

According to the report, Uluda\u011f has frequently been targeted over his reporting and social media activity. In February alone, he also faced three additional investigations and court proceedings related to his posts.<\/p>\n

The report said journalists appeared before judges at least 50 times during the month, including the Karar newspaper\u2019s Feyza Nur \u00c7al\u0131ko\u011flu and Nisanur Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m from the Nefes daily.<\/p>\n

Four journalists working for the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), a left-wing news outlet, were also arrested as part of an investigation targeting the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and affiliated organizations. The journalists \u2014 Nadiye G\u00fcrb\u00fcz, P\u0131nar Gay\u0131p, Elif Bayburt and M\u00fcsl\u00fcm Koyun \u2014 were jailed pending trial, while another journalist, Z\u00fcleyha M\u00fcld\u00fcr, was released under judicial supervision.<\/p>\n

According to the report, prosecutors cited payments made by the journalists to obtain international press cards as possible evidence of \u201cterrorist financing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another case, journalist \u00d6mer \u00d6demi\u015f was sentenced to more than six years in prison in a case in which he had previously been acquitted.<\/p>\n

Seven journalists who were covering a hearing in the so-called Kobani trial were also given suspended sentences of 18 days in prison each for recording audio and video in the courtroom. The Kobani trial concerns dozens of Kurdish politicians and activists accused of inciting violence during protests in 2014 related to the siege of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).<\/p>\n

The report said journalists detained included Ali T\u00fcrk Aslan and Mehmet Ali Erta\u015f, who were questioned by authorities over their reporting and social media posts.<\/p>\n

Journalist \u0130smail Ar\u0131 was also summoned to give a statement following a complaint by Ebubekir \u015eahin, chief executive officer of T\u00fcrk Telekom, Turkey\u2019s biggest telecommunications operator, and a former head of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RT\u00dcK), Turkey\u2019s broadcast regulator.<\/p>\n

The report also documented new investigations into journalists. \u00d6znur De\u011fer, news director of JinNews, a pro-Kurdish news outlet, faced an investigation over a social media post about a protest related to Rojava, the Kurdish-administered region in northern Syria that was attacked by Syrian government forces in January.<\/p>\n

The report also cited incidents involving obstruction and threats against journalists. Reporters covering an event attended by Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum in the northwestern province of Kocaeli said members of the minister\u2019s security team prevented them from covering the event and physically intervened against journalist Serkan \u00dclde\u015f during an altercation.<\/p>\n

In the eastern town of Tatvan, journalist M\u00fccahit Tarlan said he was threatened by Mayor M\u00fcmin Erol after criticizing municipal snow removal efforts and was later assaulted by the mayor\u2019s bodyguard.<\/p>\n

The report also pointed to regulatory pressure on broadcasters. RT\u00dcK imposed an administrative fine on Halk TV over comments made during a program hosted by veteran journalist U\u011fur D\u00fcndar.<\/p>\n

According to the report, court orders blocking access to online content also continued during the month. Deputy Family and Social Services Minister Zafer Tar\u0131kdaro\u011flu obtained rulings blocking access to 258 news reports and social media posts in a single day, including articles alleging that his nephew had been appointed to a civil service position without taking Turkey\u2019s nationwide public service exam.<\/p>\n

The report said social media accounts belonging to the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya Agency, the Yeni Ya\u015fam newspaper and JinNews were also blocked in February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish authorities detained eight journalists and arrested five in February, while reporters appeared in court at least 50…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[422,423,16138,425,426,147,312,427,428,19583,429,431,131,132,19584,155,19585],"class_list":{"0":"post-33492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-ak-party","9":"tag-akp","10":"tag-alican-uludag","11":"tag-democracy","12":"tag-erdogan","13":"tag-etkin-news-agency-etha","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-justice","16":"tag-law","17":"tag-minister-murat-kurum","18":"tag-oppression","19":"tag-rule-of-law","20":"tag-stockholm","21":"tag-sweden","22":"tag-the-socialist-party-of-the-oppressed-esp","23":"tag-turkey","24":"tag-utku-cakirozer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116177240412271990","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}