The International Press Institute (IPI) strongly condemns the widespread against journalists 鈥攊ncluding physical violence, mass detentions, and sweeping digital censorship measures鈥� following the formal of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem 陌mamo臒lu with corruption on March 23. These actions represent one of the most severe crackdowns in Turkey since the Gezi Park protests in 2013.
IPI condemns the Turkish government鈥檚 systematic efforts to journalists鈥� work and restrict public access to information of huge public interest and demands an immediate end to this policy threatening mass censorship.
Police violence against at least 12 journalists
The most severe incident involved journalist Tansel Can, who was brutally by seven police officers and hospitalized. Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency reporter Hakan Akg眉n suffered a broken nose, and Reuters correspondent Dilara 艦enkaya forehead injuries from police violence.
AFP photojournalist Yasin Akg眉l, Bianet reporter Ali Din莽, 陌lke TV reporter Eyl眉l Deniz Ya艧ar, freelance photojournalists Kemal Aslan and Rojda Alt谋nta艧,聽脰zg眉r Gelecek reporter Yusuf 脟elik, and BirG眉n reporters Ebru 脟elik and Deniz G眉ng枚r were also by .
Despite clearly identifying themselves as journalists, they were indiscriminately targeted with pepper spray, rubber bullets and subjected to aggressive police tactics while performing their professional duties.
Journalist Eyl眉l Deniz Ya艧ar, who was hit with pepper spray while covering the protests in 陌stanbul, spoke to IPI. 鈥淒espite the media crackdown, journalists here鈥攂oth our imprisoned colleagues and those of us outside鈥攃ontinue to practice nothing but pure journalism. We, as journalists, are being targeted and punished today but will become tomorrow鈥檚 leading voices in this country,鈥� Ya艧ar said.
Mass detentions and home raids against at least 14 journalists
Sendika.org reporter Zi艧an G眉r had his while in custody after being detained while covering protests in Sara莽hane on March 23. He was under judicial control measures and an international travel ban on March 26.
On the morning of March 24, the police raided journalists’ homes across multiple cities and them for their coverage of protests in Istanbul’s Sara莽hane district and other locations.聽
detained in 陌stanbul were photojournalist B眉lent K谋l谋莽, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (陌BB) photojournalist Kurtulu艧 Ar谋, AFP photojournalist Yasin Akg眉l, Now TV reporter Ali Onur Tosun, BirG眉n columnist Bar谋艧 陌nce, and journalists Hayri Tun莽, G枚khan Kam and Zeynep Kuray. Journalist Emre Orman is by the police following a raid on his home. Photojournalist Murat Kocaba艧 was by the Anti-Terror Branch in 陌zmir. On March 25, journalist Ya臒谋z Barut was also while following the protests in 陌zmir, released two days later.
According to the journalists were detained under Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations for documenting and reporting on the protests.
On March 25, journalists B眉lent K谋l谋莽, Kurtulu艧 Ar谋, Yasin Akg眉l, Ali Onur Tosun, Zeynep Kuray, Hayri Tun莽, and G枚khan Kam, who were brought to the courthouse, were by the 5th and 6th Criminal Courts of Peace on charges of “violating the law on meetings and demonstrations.” Two days later, all of them were
On March 26, BBC News correspondent Mark Lowen was for 17 hours, taking him from his hotel. Next day, he was deported for ‘being a threat to public order’.
On March 28, Evrensel correspondent Nisa Sude Demirel and ETHA News Agency correspondent Elif Bayburt were during an early morning police raid.
Media censorship, restrictions and disinformation
Turkish authorities have implemented widespread censorship measures, over 700 social media accounts at least six news organizations, several journalists and political figures under Turkey鈥檚 internet law that allows the authorities to quickly block websites and social media accounts on national security grounds.
On March 20, Turkey鈥檚 broadcast regulator (RT脺K) maximum penalties to TV channels including Halk TV, Szc TV, Tele1, and Now TV for alleged violations of broadcasting principles.
On March 22, the RT脺K chair to revoke broadcast licenses from TV channels, which failed to rely solely on official statements and information from the authorities and prohibited any statements or commentators discussing calls for public protests. Following this warning, pro-government channels their live coverage of the protests.
On March 27, RT脺K additional severe penalties. SZC TV received a 10-day broadcast suspension, while three other TV channels faced program suspensions and administrative fines. RT脺K also announced it would block access to two YouTube channels鈥攊ncluding one owned by journalist Fatih Altayl谋鈥攗nless they obtained broadcast licenses within 72 hours.
Tuncay Keser, RT脺K member for the opposition CHP party, the same party as the arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem 陌mamo臒lu, a complaint against the national public broadcaster TRT News over its coverage of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (陌BB) investigation. Keser accused TRT聽 of violating broadcasting principles and press standards of impartiality, by treating the Imamoglu and the other detainees as guilty before trial.
Last week, the authorities had access to social media by throttling the bandwidth of major platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, Telegram, and Signal, in the days after the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem 陌mamo臒lu and 105 others on March 19.
These coordinated attacks are a severe deterioration of media freedom in Turkey. We demand that Turkish authorities release all detained journalists, investigate police violence, hold perpetrators accountable, lift social media restrictions and uphold the fundamental right to report on all matters of public interest. Journalism is not a crime鈥攖he right to inform the public remains essential to a democratic society.
This statement was produced by IPI as part of the聽, a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries, funded by the European Commission.