Ali Bulaç
Ali Bulaç, a former columnist for the shuttered daily newspaper Zaman, turned himself in to police on July 27, 2016, when he learned from the press that there was a warrant for his arrest, he told Istanbul’s Fourth Court of Penal Peace at his July 30, 2016, arraignment hearing. The court arraigned him and codefendants…
Ahmet Turan Alkan
Police detained Alkan, a former columnist for the shuttered newspaper Zaman, on July 27, 2016, CPJ reported at the time. The court on July 30, 2016 arraigned Alkan alongside former Zaman journalists Ali Bulaç, Şahin Alpay, and Mustafa Ünal on charges of being members of a terrorist organization. They were accused of following exiled preacher…
Tunca İlker Öğreten
Tunca İlker Öğreten, a freelance journalist and former editor for the online opposition newspaper Diken, was charged, alongside four other journalists and a media worker, with terrorism and cybercrime offenses for publishing the purported emails of a Turkish minister. On January 17, 2017, an Istanbul court charged Öğreten with “blocking, disrupting [a] computing system,” “destroying…
Gültekin Avcı
Gültekin Avcı, a former prosecutor and a columnist for the shuttered daily Bugün, has been repeatedly detained since 2015, with his columns cited as evidence against him. He was most recently arrested in 2019, one day after he was released from prison. In December 2020, he was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison….
Turkish authorities cancel press passes for hundreds of journalists
Istanbul, January 24, 2020 — Turkish authorities should restore the recently cancelled press cards of hundreds of reporters, and establish a transparent and impartial process for obtaining press passes, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
‘I could be jailed at any moment’: Turkish editor in limbo over terms of prison release
If somebody is legally under house arrest but in practice not, are they free? Semiha Şahin, an editor at the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), confronts this question—and the legal ambiguity that it poses—every day. A Turkish court released the journalist under house arrest in June, pending the outcome of her trial, but authorities have…
10 Most Censored Countries
Repressive governments use sophisticated digital censorship and surveillance alongside more traditional methods to silence independent media. A special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Published September 10, 2019 Eritrea is the world’s most censored country, according to a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The list is based on CPJ’s research into the…
Turkish court orders service providers to block access to news sites
Istanbul, August 6, 2019–An Ankara court on July 16 ordered Turkish internet service providers to block access in Turkey to 136 web addresses, independent news website Bianet reported today. The blocked addresses include the websites of news outlets Bianet, ETHA news agency, Halkın Sesi TV, Özgür Gelecek, osp.org, geziyisavunuyoruz.org, Gazete Fersude, Yeni Demokratik Gençlik, Umut…
#WeStandWithLyra
Freelance journalist Lyra McKee was fatally injured on April 18 during rioting and a police operation in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. She was hit with a bullet when a gunman opened fire on police, and died in the hospital. CPJ joins family and friends of Lyra, as well as the global community, in standing with Lyra….
