Türkiye: RSF urges Turkish court to acquit journalist Elif Akgül

A freelance journalist who has been covering Turkish court cases against media professionals and freedom of expression since 2012, who has worked for the news website Bianet.org(RSF's partner in Turkiye) and who received an RSF grant in Berlin in 2022, Elif Akgülwas arrestedon 18 February in the course of raids in ten provinces against the People's Democratic Congress (HDK), a coalition of pro-Kurdish and left-wing groups.

Detained on 21 February in Istanbul's Bakirköy women's prison, she was held for more than 100 days before being released on 2 June under judicial supervision pending the start of her trial.

Although she acknowledged during questioning that she was elected as an HDK delegate in 2011 - a legitimate, public activity that was not questioned by the judicial authorities at the time - she denies having had any political ties since becoming a journalist in 2012. Her telephone contacts with various news media, including Bianet, and the position she held for a year 13 years ago have led to her being unfairly accused of belonging to the HDK - a political group "linked to the PKK," according to a Court of Cassation ruling in December 2019 that has been condemned by civil society.

Facing up to 15 years in prison

The trial of Yildiz Tar, the editor-in-chief of the LGBT+ news site Kasos GL, who was arrested at his home in the capital Ankara on the same day as Elif Akgül and was released under judicial supervision from Metris Prison in Istanbul on 30 May, is due to begin on 13 October.

He is accused of participating in HDK meetings in early 2010 - when the HDK was therefore still entirely legal - and of contacting it in 2012 and 2013 in the course of covering political, social, and LGBT+ activities for the ETHA(or Etkin) news agency, of which he was editor-in-chief at the time.

On 25 September, an Istanbul court refused to lift the travel ban imposed on Ender Imrek, a third journalist accused in the same investigation, mainly on the basis of editorials published in the left-wing daily Evrensel ("Universal") and on the website yazaroku.com. He was initially placed under house arrest, but the measure was lifted on 29 May when he was banned from travelling abroad and his passport was confiscated.

Türkiye is ranked 159th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF's 2025 World Press Freedom Index.