{"id":38427,"date":"2026-03-12T08:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/38427\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T08:54:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:54:23","slug":"press-freedom-in-turkey-deteriorated-further-in-2025-amid-systematic-pressure-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/38427\/","title":{"rendered":"Press freedom in Turkey deteriorated further in 2025 amid systematic pressure: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Press freedom in Turkey continued to deteriorate in 2025 amid judicial harassment, censorship, violence and economic pressure, according to a report<\/a> by leading international press freedom organizations.<\/p>\n

The report, which followed a joint mission<\/a> to Ankara in November 2025 by representatives of eight international press freedom groups, concluded that Turkey\u2019s media environment is marked by \u201ca climate extremely hostile to independent journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical reporting was routinely framed as a criminal or security concern, reinforcing a pervasive chilling effect across the media ecosystem,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The report linked the increasing pressure on independent journalism in 2025 to a wider crackdown on political opposition, particularly after protests erupted following the detention of \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu.<\/p>\n

\u0130mamo\u011flu, widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s strongest political rival, was arrested<\/a> in March 2025 on corruption charges that critics say are politically motivated and intended to sideline him ahead of the 2028 general election.<\/p>\n

Prosecutions under terrorism and disinformation laws continued in 2025, with vague provisions enabling the criminalization of routine journalistic activities. High-profile cases included journalists Fatih Altayl\u0131<\/a>, Furkan Karabay<\/a>, Tolga \u015eardan<\/a> and Merdan Yanarda\u011f<\/a>. Courts also increasingly imposed prolonged pretrial detentions and judicial supervision measures.<\/p>\n

Physical attacks on journalists reached \u201calarming levels,\u201d the report said. The murder of Hakan Tosun<\/a>, the assault on Enver Demirda\u015f and police inaction during an attack on satirical magazine LeMan<\/a> reflected what the mission described as a \u201cpersistent pattern of violence\u201d enabled by institutional impunity.<\/p>\n

Authorities also relied on regulatory mechanisms, including broadcasting bans<\/a>, fines, seizures and digital censorship, to suppress critical journalism without adequate judicial oversight, according to the report. It cited account blockings, bandwidth throttling, threats of license<\/a> revocation and the appointment of trustees<\/a> to opposition TV stations as forms of regulatory pressure.<\/p>\n

Economic pressures further compounded the crisis facing independent media. Algorithm changes<\/a> by major digital platforms reduced the reach of independent outlets by 70 to 90 percent, contributing to closures such as that of Gazete Duvar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The report also highlighted the challenges faced by Turkish journalists living in exile who continued to contend with financial insecurity, professional isolation and security risks.<\/p>\n

The mission called on Turkish authorities to repeal laws criminalizing journalism, ensure institutional independence and adopt policies to support financial sustainability of the media and reform digital governance.<\/p>\n

The participating organizations were the International Press Institute (IPI), Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19 Europe, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO).<\/p>\n

According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 27 journalists\u00a0are<\/a>\u00a0currently behind bars in Turkey. The country\u2019s deteriorating media landscape was further pointed out in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where it was\u00a0ranked<\/a>\u00a0159th out of 180 nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Press freedom in Turkey continued to deteriorate in 2025 amid judicial harassment, censorship, violence and economic pressure, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[21934,21935,21936,12327,21937,21938,21939,21940,13063,21941,18478,1181,6981,20114,21942,1871,429,2033,131,132,21943,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-38427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-algorithm-changes","9":"tag-appointment-of-trustees","10":"tag-broadcasting-bans","11":"tag-censorship","12":"tag-crackdown-on-oppo","13":"tag-fatih-altayli","14":"tag-furkan-karabay","15":"tag-gazete-duvar","16":"tag-hakan-tosun","17":"tag-independent-journalism","18":"tag-international-press-institute-ipi","19":"tag-istanbul-mayor-ekrem-imamoglu","20":"tag-judicial-harassment","21":"tag-leman-satirical-magazine","22":"tag-license-revocation","23":"tag-merdan-yanardag","24":"tag-oppression","25":"tag-press-freedom","26":"tag-stockholm","27":"tag-sweden","28":"tag-tolga-sardan","29":"tag-turkey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116215366640850801","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38427","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=38427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}