Four journalists were arrested in Turkey’s northeastern province of Artvin on Monday late night over allegations of “membership in a terrorist organisation”, following house raids in İstanbul and Bodrum last week that sparked backlash from press freedom advocates, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) reported on Monday.
The journalists — Ozan Cırık of Sendika.org, Dicle Baştürk, Eylem Emel Yılmaz, and Yavuz Akengin — were detained on 13 June in İstanbul and Bodrum, transferred to Artvin for questioning, and formally arrested on 16 June after three days in custody.
Three others, senior journalist Semra Pelek, Melisa Efe, a translator for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Ömer Bülenter were released under judicial supervision.
Lawyers representing the detained journalists said the accusations were based solely on their professional work.
“Journalistic activities and the payments received for them were treated as criminal evidence,” said Yücel Arslan, the lawyer for Dicle Baştürk, in remarks to ANKA news agency. “We are dealing with an investigation file that appears unexamined and unsubstantiated.”
The charges reportedly stem from journalists’ copyright payments for published stories, technical services provided to news outlets, and phone records showing routine contact with other media workers.
“After four days in detention, four were arrested and three released under control measures. The file contains nothing but journalism,” added Didare Hazal Sümeli, lawyer for Semra Pelek.
The detentions are part of an investigation launched by the Artvin prosecutor’s office. Gendarmeries carried out simultaneous raids in multiple cities, citing national security concerns.
Turkey remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to international watchdogs, who warn that vague anti-terror laws are frequently used to target dissenting voices in the media.
