But the latest numbers don’t tell the full story. Turkey has consistently vied with China for the top slot in CPJ’s list of shame and has taken first place five times in recent years, in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

The fall in imprisoned journalists in Turkey does not signal an improvement in media freedom, Barış Altıntaş, co-director of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), a local group advocating for press freedom and freedom of speech, told CPJ.

“Even if there were zero journalists in prison today, 200 journalists may be arrested tomorrow,” she said. “The government determines the number of arrested journalists, even when it is low.”

Although dozens of journalists have been freed since 2022, most are still under investigation or awaiting trial, placing a stranglehold on the country’s critical media, CPJ’s research shows.

Why is Turkey—a NATO member with close ties to the West—frequently ranked alongside authoritarian states like Iran and Egypt in CPJ’s prison census?

Understanding Turkey’s high rates of incarceration of journalists requires a closer look at its domestic politics, particularly the long-running conflict with Kurdish insurgents.

Imprisoned due to political winds

The reasons that journalists are imprisoned in Turkey are “100% political,” said Ülkü Şahin, a lawyer with the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), who monitors media trials. “The arrests of journalists run in parallel with politics in Turkey. Whenever there are times of crisis in Turkey, the number of arrested journalists increases.”

The conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has ruled Turkey since 2002, has repeatedly used the security forces and judicial system to outmaneuver its political opponents.

“The journalism trials all stem from politics,” one court reporter told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. “The judges are either ignorant about the law or they manipulate it for their advantage.”

Shifting political winds in Turkey regularly sweep up journalists across the political spectrum. Left-wing nationalist journalists were targeted in the early 2010s, when hundreds including lawmakers, retired generals, and academics were arrested in relation to the alleged ultra-nationalist Ergenekon conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Some jailed reporters were linked to coup plots, while others were arrested for “influencing a fair trial”—effectively criminalized for independent coverage of police and court activities. Journalists who had been close to the previous regime were imprisoned alongside Kurdish citizens and socialists, two groups that are always present in the country’s prisons.

Today, Turkey’s three longest-serving journalists are socialists serving life sentences. Hatice Duman has been behind bars since 2003, Mustafa Gök since 2004, and Erdal Süsem since 2010.

In 2016, the trend of politically-influenced media arrests continued with the mass detention of journalists working for outlets associated with the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, after his religious group fell out with its former ally the AKP.

Media detentions intensified after the 2016 attempted military coup, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed on Gülen, who denied involvement. That year, Turkey set a new global record of 84 journalists in jail—the most ever imprisoned by a nation in a year in CPJ’s census.

‘We will punish you through the judiciary’

Today, the government continues pressure the media to report its version of reality, a second court reporter told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, adding that the arbitrary sentences handed down to journalists were the “best indicator of how the judiciary is under the influence of politics.”

The government’s attitude has been “either you practice journalism according to our instructions or we will punish you through the judiciary, with either investigations or prison,” said Fatma Demirelli, co-director of Platform for Independent Journalism (P24), a local press freedom group.

Mehmet Baransu, a former reporter and columnist for the shuttered newspaper Taraf, has been imprisoned since 2015 on multiple charges that stemmed from his reporting. In 2020, he was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison on charges that include alleged membership in Gülen’s movement. The government considers Taraf a mouthpiece for the Gülen movement, which it has designed as a terrorist organization and refers to as FETÖ/PDY.

Baransu has appealed the verdict. After the 2016 coup attempt, thousands of people with suspected ties to the Gülen community were interrogated but “there wasn’t one testimony regarding my or Taraf’s involvement [with Gülen],” Baransu told CPJ in an interview conducted via his lawyer.

Meanwhile, he remains in prison awaiting retrial on two cases which have been merged. One charge relates to a leaked National Security Council document that Taraf published and the other charge, which the journalist denies, is that he obtained a classified military document titled “The Sovereign Action Plan.”

Baransu believes the multiple journalism-related charges that he is facing are a punishment for his 2010 scoop about a planned coup. These reports, based on leaked documents and published in Taraf in 2010, led to the so-called Sledgehammer trials, in which more than 300 military officers were jailed.

Kurdish journalists labeled as terrorists

Kurdish journalists in particular are in the crosshairs. The question of Kurdish self-determination is a live one in Turkey, where Kurdish people have been subjected to decades of discrimination since the country’s founding. Turkish security forces have been fighting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since 1984 and peace efforts in the early 2010s failed. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and many Western governments.

Vaguely worded anti-terror and penal code statutes have allowed authorities to conflate journalistic reporting that they consider favorable to banned groups, like the PKK, with membership of a terrorist organization—for which the punishment is up to 15 years in prison.

Journalists’ union lawyer Şahin described terrorism-related charges as a “very functional” offense for authorities because of their “flexible” legal definition. Instead of asking prosecutors for evidence of a defendant’s “organic ties” or links to a terrorist organization, courts punish journalists simply for reporting the news, Şahin said.

Four out of five of the newly jailed journalists named in CPJ’s 2023 prison census were Kurdish— Sedat Yılmaz, Abdurrahman Gök, and Dicle Müftüoğlu were arrested over alleged PKK ties. Meanwhile, Celalettin Can was serving a 15-month sentence for guest editing the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem for one day in 2016 before it was shuttered due to alleged PKK ties.

(CPJ’s prison census provides a snapshot of journalists jailed as of December 1; since then, some Turkish reporters have been released. Gök and Yılmaz were freed pending trial on December 5 and 14 respectively, while Can was released conditionally on December 20.)

‘Revolving door’ of arrests and intimidation

When it comes to the Kurdish media, Turkey has an unofficial revolving door policy: as soon as one journalist from a newsroom is released pending trial, another is arrested, said Serdar Altan, one of 15 Kurdish members of the press — 14 journalists plus one media worker — imprisoned in June 2022 on charges of PKK membership.

This is an intimidation tactic, said Altan, who was freed on bail, after 13 months behind bars, on July 12, the day that the group’s mass trial on terrorism charges opened.

Sometimes the aim is to hinder an outlet’s work, at other times it’s to make an example of the journalists, but authorities generally avoid arresting every journalist at an outlet or shuttering it to avoid “negative publicity,” he said.

The main reason that the number of Turkish journalists in jail dropped in CPJ’s 2023 census is that a mass group that was imprisoned as of CPJ’s census date in 2022 had been released, awaiting trial, on that same date in 2023.

All were indicted on charges of terrorism, with their outlets labeled as propaganda tools because of their news policies, according to CPJ’s review of indictments, verdicts, and interrogation records.

CPJ visited the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakır, in southeastern Turkey, to observe several of these trials on terrorism charges in 2023. The courthouse had the usual harsh, white florescent lighting seen in similar buildings across Turkey, but security was noticeably tighter: two X-ray searches, full height turnstiles, an ID control, a ban on phones in the courtroom.

Journalists’ trials in this part of the country usually do not attract much public attention in western Turkey because the government is “effective” in presenting them as cases involving terrorist propaganda, said Altan, who is based in Diyarbakır.

“The Western media says, ‘Let’s not get into this if they took the journalist because of terrorism,’” he said.

Altan co-chairs the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, a local press freedom group. His other co-chair, Dicle Müftüoğlu, is being held on terrorism charges in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison in the capital, Ankara. When her trial opened in Diyarbakır on December 7, she participated via teleconference.

Yılmaz—who worked with Müftüoğlu as an editor at the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency—agreed that Turkish civil society was often reluctant to stand up for Kurdish journalists.

“Being a Kurdish journalist is perceived as a potential crime in the polarized, divided circumstances of Turkey,” said Yılmaz, who spent eight months in detention prior to his December 14 release on the first day of his trial on terrorism charges.

“Being a Kurdish journalist makes your non-existent crime even heavier.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Özgür Öğret.

On Thursday, September 13, the 2nd Tatvan Court of Penal Peace granted bail to Yücel Baysali and Engin Kaplan, two bodyguards of the mayor of the eastern city of Tatvan who were arrested on charges of attacking local journalist Sinan Aygül in June. 

On the same day, the 5th Diyarbakır Court of Serious Crimes and the 2nd Bitlis Court of Serious Crimes declined to release Abdurrahman Gök and Mehmet Şah Oruç, respectively. Both are reporters for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency who have been held in pretrial detention since April.

Gök and Oruç are both charged with membership in a terrorist organization and propaganda in connection with their reporting. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison for membership in a terrorist organization and up to 7.5 years for propaganda, the journalists’ lawyer, Resul Temur, told CPJ.

“Thursday was a sad day for journalism in Turkey. Imprisoned for their work, journalists Abdurrahman Gök and Mehmet Şah Oruç will lose more months of their lives behind bars while those accused of brutally assaulting journalist Sinan Aygül enjoy their freedom while awaiting trial,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities are punishing journalists for doing their jobs and protecting those who assault them. Authorities must release Gök and Oruç and take action to ensure Aygül’s safety.”

During their Thursday hearing, Baysali and Kaplan claimed that Aygül, chief editor of the privately owned website Bitlis News and chair of the Bitlis Journalists Society, insulted them. The two accused demanded their release, claiming they were wrongfully detained and that it was the journalist who should be on trial, not them.

Their lawyers denied the charges of “intentional injury” despite video evidence of Baysali beating Aygül. The video also showed Kaplan, a police officer, touching his gun to intimidate bystanders who tried to intervene.

In a video posted to X, previously known as Twitter, Aygül said he does not believe he has “security of life” and told CPJ after the hearing that he wouldn’t be surprised if he were arrested as a victim of the attack. The next court hearing is December 14.

Gök and Oruç are charged with terrorism due to alleged ties to the outlawed organization, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, according to the indictments reviewed by CPJ. The evidence for these claims includes examples of their professional work and statements from witnesses who admitted to ties with the PKK, which Turkey deems a terrorist organization. 

Gök and his lawyers argued in court that the indictment lacked solid evidence and the charges were retaliation for his 2017 award-winning report about police officers who shot and killed a young man. 

Oruç and Temur told the Bitlis court that the case against the journalist was based on his journalistic works and he had no ties to terrorism. Oruç, who was not brought to court and attended the hearing by teleconference, said, “Kurdish journalism is being criminalized.”

Turkey was the world’s fourth-worst jailer of journalists, with 40 behind bars at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census. Of those, more than half were Kurdish journalists.

The courts set Oruç’s next hearing for October 31 and Gök’s next hearing for December 5. CPJ’s emails to the prosecutor’s offices in Diyarbakır, Bitlis, and the Municipality of Tatvan did not receive a reply. 

In 2022, Gök was sentenced to 18 months for propaganda. That appeal has yet to be heard.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Tuesday, April 25, authorities in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır detained at least 10 journalists for their alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.

As of Friday, one of those journalists had been released, five had been formally arrested, and one more has been taken into custody, according to multiple media reports.

“Turkey’s ongoing crackdown on the Kurdish media over alleged terrorism ties clearly shows how authorities are determined to silence dissenting voices ahead of the country’s elections,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities should release all journalists held in custody at once and stop abusing the country’s anti-terror laws to harass the press.”

Kadri Esen, publisher of the Kurdish-language newspaper Xwebûn, was released by a court under judicial control on Thursday, according to those news reports.

Of the previously detained journalists, on Thursday authorities formally arrested Mezopotamya News Agency editor Abdurrahman Gök and reporter Mehmet Şah Oruç; JINNEWS reporter Bertitan Canözer; and Remzi Akkaya, whose employer CPJ could not immediately determine. On Friday, authorities also formally arrested Mikail Barut, a journalist whose employer CPJ could not immediately determine, news reports said.

The proceedings in the cases of the other four journalists detained Tuesday, as well as media lawyer Resul Temur, were ongoing at the time of publication, those media reports said.

Separately, on Thursday police in the southeastern city of Adıyaman detained Kadir Bayram, a camera operator for Diyarbakır-based PIYA production company, and planned to bring him to Diyarbakır, reports said.

As CPJ has documented, authorities have recently detained Kurdish journalists in Diyarbakır and Ankara, and charged them months later with PKK membership on flimsy evidence. If charged and convicted of membership in a terrorist organization, the journalists could face up to 15 years in prison under Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws.

Prior to the latest detentions, Turkey was already one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, with 40 behind bars as of CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census.

CPJ emailed the chief prosecutor’s office of Diyarbakır for comment but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

In the early hours of Tuesday, April 25, authorities in 21 cities throughout the southeastern province of Diyarbakır detained more than 100 people accused of having ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization, according to multiple media reports.

At least 10 Kurdish journalists were included in the crackdown, which also targeted politicians, lawyers, artists, and others.

Authorities also detained Resul Temur, a Diyarbakır-based media freedom lawyer who represents more than half of the 40 journalists behind bars in Turkey who were included in CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census, according to news reports and the Media and Law Studies Association, a local rights group.

“Turkish authorities are yet again showing that they will use the country’s terrorism laws as a cudgel against the press,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the journalists recently swept up in a crackdown in Diyarbakır along with lawyer Resul Temur, and drop all efforts to suppress coverage of Kurdish issues.”

Authorities arrested at least three journalists with the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, according to that outlet and other news reports, which identified them as editor Abdurrahman Gök and reporters Ahmet Kanbal and Mehmet Şah Oruç. Authorities are seeking to detain Mezopotamya publisher Ferhat Çelik after he was not found at his home, the news agency said.

Those reports also said that authorities had detained Osman Akın, news editor for the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Yeni Yaşam; Beritan Canözer, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish all-women news website JINNEWS; Kadri Esen, publisher of the Kurdish-language newspaper Xwebûn; and four journalists whose outlets CPJ could not immediately confirm: Arif Akkaya, Remzi Akkaya, Mikail Barut, and Salih Keleş.

As CPJ has documented, authorities have recently detained Kurdish journalists in Diyarbakır and Ankara, and charged them months later with PKK membership on flimsy evidence.

CPJ emailed the chief prosecutor’s office of Diyarbakır for comment but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

“Turkish authorities must not fight the appeal of photojournalist Abdurrahman Gök, and should stop pursuing trumped-up terrorism cases against members of the press,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Gök’s coverage of the killing of a civilian by security forces in 2017 has resulted in years of official harassment. Turkey must allow journalists to do their jobs without fear of such retaliation.”

On Thursday, June 30, the Fifth Court of Serious Crimes in Diyarbakır found Gök guilty of making propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and sentenced him to 18 months and 22 days in prison; he is free pending his appeal, according to those news reports and a tweet by the journalist. The court also acquitted Gök on a charge of membership in a banned group, those reports said.

The case stemmed from Gök’s work as an editor of the now shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency in 2017, when he photographed police officers shooting and killing a young man, those reports said.

The evidence against Gök consisted of his photographs of the shooting as well as “notes for news stories, phone conversations made with news sources, books in my house, [and] newspaper clippings that I kept for archival reasons,” he said in a March interview. Authorities also investigated his social media posts in a separate case that was merged with his terrorism trial in January, reports said.

Gök’s photographs of the shooting were used as evidence in the trial against the officer involved, and Gök won a local journalism award for them that year. Police raided his home shortly after the photos were published in 2017, took him into custody alongside other journalists for three days in late 2018, and then charged him with terrorist membership and propaganda.

CPJ emailed the Diyarbakır chief prosecutor’s office for comment, but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.