{"id":56870,"date":"2026-04-07T17:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/56870\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:38:07","slug":"turkeys-unjust-prosecutions-make-journalism-nearly-impossible-press-groups-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/56870\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey\u2019s unjust prosecutions make journalism nearly impossible, press groups say"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Unjust prosecutions and detentions have made independent journalism nearly impossible in Turkey, representatives of seven press organizations said<\/a> on Monday, as they called for the release of all jailed journalists.<\/p>\n

The representatives made the call at a press conference in \u0130stanbul held to mark April 6, the Day of Murdered Journalists, according to the BirG\u00fcn daily.<\/p>\n

They called for an end to investigations and prosecutions targeting journalists over their professional activities and demanded the repeal of Article 217\/A of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes \u201cpublicly disseminating misleading information\u201d and carries prison sentences of up to three years.<\/p>\n

The provision, widely known as the \u201cdisinformation law<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0was adopted in October 2022 and has drawn widespread\u00a0criticism from rights groups and the opposition for further restricting freedom of expression in Turkey.<\/p>\n

The group said the lack of judicial independence in Turkey made it impossible to ensure fair rulings under such a provision, adding that restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of expression undermine the foundations of a democratic society.<\/p>\n

They also called for the release of 15 jailed journalists, including \u0130smail Ar\u0131, Merdan Yanarda\u011f and Alican Uluda\u011f. Ar\u0131<\/a> was arrested on disinformation charges over his news reports and social media posts. Yanarda\u011f<\/a> was taken into custody as part of an investigation into the opposition-run \u0130stanbul Municipality, and on accusations of espionage. Uluda\u011f<\/a> was arrested on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan in his social media posts.<\/p>\n

Mustafa K\u00f6z, vice president of the Writers Union of Turkey (TYS), said Turkey had turned into a \u201csemi-open prison\u201d for journalists.<\/p>\n

Hakk\u0131 Zari\u00e7, vice president of the PEN Writers Association, said journalists were no longer being killed as in the past but were increasingly being silenced through imprisonment, with sentences used as a form of retaliation.<\/p>\n

The Turkish Journalists\u2019 Association (TGC), the Journalists\u2019 Union of Turkey (TGS), the Turkish Publishers Association (T\u00dcRKYAYB\u0130R), TYS, the PEN Turkey Center, the D\u0130SK Bas\u0131n-\u0130\u015f press workers union and the Contemporary Journalists Association (\u00c7GD) attended the press conference.<\/p>\n

The Day of Murdered Journalists has been observed since 1996 to bring attention to violence and pressure against journalists, marking the killing of journalist Hasan Fehmi Efendi in \u0130stanbul on April 6, 1909. A total of 67 journalists have been killed since then, according to press organizations.<\/p>\n

Journalists in Turkey operate in an increasingly restrictive environment, particularly those reporting on politically sensitive issues or criticizing the government or its political allies. They are frequently targeted through prosecutions under laws criminalizing \u201cinsulting public officials,\u201d \u201cdisinformation\u201d and \u201cdisseminating terrorist propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 26 journalists\u00a0are<\/a>\u00a0currently behind bars in Turkey. The country\u2019s deteriorating media landscape was also highlighted in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which\u00a0ranked<\/a>\u00a0Turkey\u00a0159th out of 180 nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unjust prosecutions and detentions have made independent journalism nearly impossible in Turkey, representatives of seven press organizations said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[16138,27631,31466,425,26364,27632,312,11960,31467,21044,1871,429,31468,2033,131,132,155,31469,31470,31471],"class_list":{"0":"post-56870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-alican-uludag","9":"tag-contemporary-journalists-association-cgd","10":"tag-day-of-murdered-journalists","11":"tag-democracy","12":"tag-disinformation-law","13":"tag-disk-basin-is","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-ismail-ari","16":"tag-journalists-union-of-turkey-tgs","17":"tag-judicial-independence","18":"tag-merdan-yanardag","19":"tag-oppression","20":"tag-pen-turkey-center","21":"tag-press-freedom","22":"tag-stockholm","23":"tag-sweden","24":"tag-turkey","25":"tag-turkish-journalists-association-tgc","26":"tag-turkish-publishers-association","27":"tag-writers-union-of-turkey-tys"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116364647117801995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56870","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=56870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}