A Turkish court has ordered the arrest of four journalists who were detained last week in İstanbul as part of an investigation launched by prosecutors in the northeastern province of Artvin, the ANKA news agency reported on Tuesday.
Freelance journalists Dicle Baştürk, Yavuz Akengin and Eylem Emel Yılmaz, along with Ozan Cırık, who works for the Sendika.org news website, were arrested on charges of “membership in an illegal organization,” while Semra Pelek, a former member of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), and Melisa Efe, a translator for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, were released under judicial supervision.
The journalists were initially detained along with three other colleagues during early morning raids on June 13 in İstanbul on the order of the Artvin Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and later transferred to Artvin for questioning. The case file remains sealed, but according to their lawyers, the charges are based on the journalists’ professional activities.
Lawyer Yücel Arslan, who represents Baştürk, told ANKA that standard journalistic activities, including news reporting and the remuneration received, were being treated as evidence of criminal conduct.
“This is a case file that has neither been thoroughly examined nor properly investigated. We hope that, in time, we will be able to present our case clearly before the court,” Arslan said.
Another lawyer, Didare Hazal Sümeli, representing Pelek, said the file contains no evidence beyond journalism.
“After four days in custody, the court issued four arrest warrants and imposed judicial supervision on three others. This phase of the investigation appears to be over. … The entire case is based solely on journalistic activity,” she said.
According to Turkish media reports, the journalists were questioned by authorities about payments they received for news reports, technical assistance provided to news websites and their phone communications. The interrogations reportedly focused on whether these transactions could constitute evidence of criminal activity. The detainees denied the allegations, saying the payments were standard remuneration for their professional work.
Turkey, which is one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists according to press freedom organizations, dropped to 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May.
Turkish authorities frequently use broad counterterrorism laws and insult charges to prosecute members of the press.