Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

Washington, D.C., January 18, 2021—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to immediately halt the deportation of Iranian investigative journalist Mohammad Mosaed to Iran. Mosaed was honored with CPJ’s 2020 International Press Freedom Award in November. Yesterday, Mosaed contacted CPJ via messaging app, saying he had been detained by Turkish border police after…

Istanbul, January 15, 2021 – Turkish authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the assault of journalist Orhan Uğuroğlu and bring the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Earlier today, in Ankara, the capital, three unidentified men attacked Uğuroğlu, the Ankara correspondent for the nationalist daily Yeniçağ, while he…

Istanbul, January 14, 2021 – Turkish authorities must release journalist Pınar Gayıp immediately and return all items confiscated in a recent raid on the Etkin News Agency, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Last night, police raided the Istanbul office of the Etkin News Agency, a news outlet supportive of the Socialist Party of…

Istanbul, January 5, 2021 – Turkish authorities should immediately release journalist Mehmet Aslan and cease harassing staffers of the Mezopotamya News Agency, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  Today, police in Istanbul arrested Aslan, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, after raiding his home, and then transferred him to the southern city…

Spotify, the New York-headquartered audio streaming service, was one of four companies required to apply for a license to broadcast on the internet in Turkey in October, according to local news reports–a sign of Turkey’s strengthening regulatory power over podcasts, including news and commentary. The requirement was announced as Turkish authorities appeared to be ramping up…

Istanbul, December 23, 2020 – The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a Turkish court’s conviction and sentencing of exiled journalist Can Dündar. Today, the 14th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes announced that Dündar, who lives in Germany, had been sentenced to 18 years and nine months in prison for an espionage conviction, and eight…

After nearly 14 years and multiple court cases, the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, remains largely unsolved even as the extended main trial appears to be set to draw to a close. Dink’s teenage killer and his immediate accomplices are behind bars, but prosecutors in the retrial, ordered by Turkey’s supreme court in 2013, have yet…

Editor’s note: In 2019, CPJ published a new database of attacks on the press. Numbers for each subsequent prison census are liable to adjust yearly as CPJ learns of arrests, releases, or deaths in prison. For the most recent data, see cpj.org/data/imprisoned/. The number of journalists jailed globally because of their work hit a new high in 2020…

Istanbul, December 7, 2020 – Turkish authorities should not contest journalist Ayşegül Doğan’s appeal, and should cease filing terrorism charges against members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Today, the Ninth Court of Serious Crimes, in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, convicted Doğan of membership in a terrorist organization, and sentenced…

Istanbul, November 24, 2020 – Turkish authorities should stop harassing journalists working at the Mezopotamya News Agency, immediately release reporter Dindar Karataş, and return any equipment confiscated from the outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. This morning, police officers in the eastern city of Van arrested Karataş at his home, and then brought…