{"id":54235,"date":"2026-04-02T16:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/54235\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:46:09","slug":"journalist-indicted-for-insulting-erdogan-in-reports-social-media-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/54235\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist indicted for insulting Erdo\u011fan in reports, social media posts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Turkish prosecutors have indicted journalist Mehmet Murat Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan in his reporting and social media posts, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The indictment cites articles published on \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yurtta\u015f Haber<\/a>, a new website where Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m serves as editor, as well as related social media posts, including coverage of protests following the detention of \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, Erdo\u011fan\u2019s strongest political rival, who was arrested<\/a> in March 2025 on corruption charges critics say are politically motivated.<\/p>\n

Among the items cited as evidence were reports on calls for boycotts and on the detention of young protestors<\/a> and journalists<\/a> during demonstrations that erupted after \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s detention.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also listed two of Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m\u2019s earlier articles in the indictment, including one on attacks targeting Alevis in Syria<\/a> and another critical of Erdo\u011fan\u2019s 15 years in power<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m denied the charges, saying criticism is not a crime and describing his remarks about what he called \u201cone-man rule\u201d as political commentary.<\/p>\n

An Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment and scheduled the first hearing for September 8.<\/p>\n

In Turkey thousands of people are investigated, prosecuted or convicted of insulting president, which is a criminal offense under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code. Whoever insults the president can face up to four years in prison, a sentence that can be increased by one-sixth if the crime was committed through the mass media.<\/p>\n

The law has been criticized by human rights and press freedom advocates, who say it is used to prosecute journalists, politicians and ordinary citizens for expressing views critical of the president or even satirizing him indirectly.<\/p>\n

In a separate case<\/a>, Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m is also on trial on charges of disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization, in his reporting and social media posts. The first hearing in that case is scheduled for April 9.<\/p>\n

Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m is also among the journalists whose X accounts were blocked<\/a> on March 25.<\/p>\n

In Turkey, journalists critical of the government or allied political parties have faced increasing scrutiny under laws criminalizing \u201cdisinformation,\u201d \u201cinsulting public officials\u201d and \u201cdisseminating terrorist propaganda.\u201d Dozens of reporters remain in prison, and many more are the subjects of ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n

According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 28 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":"Turkish prosecutors have indicted journalist Mehmet Murat Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[5881,312,30045,429,30046,314,2033,30047,131,132,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-54235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-blocked-accounts-on-x","9":"tag-human-rights","10":"tag-mehmet-murat-yildirim","11":"tag-oppression","12":"tag-ozgur-yurttas-haber","13":"tag-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan","14":"tag-press-freedom","15":"tag-prosecution-of-journalists","16":"tag-stockholm","17":"tag-sweden","18":"tag-turkey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116336131164769493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54235","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=54235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}