On the evening of 9 November, a Turkish court officially arrested journalist Furkan Karabay after he published on social media the names of prosecutors involved in the investigation against Istanbul’s Esenyurt district mayor Ahmet Özer, Reuters reports.
Karabay, a reporter for the 10Haber news website, was detained on Friday, 3 November, after posting on the X platform (formerly Twitter), where he revealed the names of prosecutors involved in the mayor’s case. Ahmet Özer was detained on 30 October on charges of having links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an organisation banned in Turkey and recognised as a terrorist group.
According to the court ruling, Karabay was arrested because his posts on social media allegedly “targeted civil servants involved in the fight against terrorism”. The journalist denied these allegations, stressing that the names of the prosecutors had already been made public by other media outlets, as well as by the leader of the Republican People’s Party of Turkey (CHP), Özgur Özel.
Karabay’s defence, in particular his lawyer Enes Ermaner, called the detention illegal, stating that the journalist was arrested for reporting on people whose names were already well known.
The arrest drew sharp criticism from human rights organisations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which said the measure was a serious violation of press freedom. Turkey is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
The main opposition party, the CHP, as well as numerous freedom of expression groups, condemned the arrest. A statement by the Association of Progressive Journalists said that “the arrest of a journalist simply for informing the public is a serious blow to press freedom and democratic values”.
