On the morning of 8 November 2024 Turkish authorities detained journalist Furkan Karabay from the independent online news outlet 10Haber (https://10haber.net/) in a pre-dawn raid at his Istanbul, Türkiye / Turkey home. His arrest followed his coverage of the arrest and subsequent investigation of a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi – CHP) and mayor of one district in Istanbul, accused by prosecutors of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê – PKK). He reported about this in his media, as also with a series of articles on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account.
You can read 10Haber article about the arrest of Karabay here: https://10haber.net/gundem/10haber-editoru-furkan-karabay-gozaltinda-552365/
Karabay is now facing serious charges, including “insulting a public servant,” “knowingly spreading misleading information,” and “making targets of individuals tasked with combating terrorism.” An Istanbul court on 9 November ruled to transfer him to prison pending trial. His lawyer has harshly criticized the arrest, describing the actions against Karabay as baseless and emphasizing that the journalist’s posts merely repeated information already circulating in various media outlets and highlighted by CHP figures.
The case centers around social media content where Karabay reportedly mentioned the names of prosecutors involved in this party member investigation. He clarified during his court defense that these details had already been publicized by other news organizations and even explicitly cited by politicians. Nonetheless, authorities viewed his posts as a threat to the safety of the prosecutors.
This incident has sparked a significant outcry from press freedom advocates and opposition figures.
One 10Haber staff member criticized the aggressive methods used in Karabay’s arrest, pointing out that the journalist was willing to comply with authorities without the need for a forceful home raid. Meanwhile, social media saw an outpouring of solidarity, with colleagues and press unions like the Turkey Journalists Union (Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası – TGS – https://tgs.org.tr/en/) condemning the act as a blatant attempt to intimidate the media. TGS stressed that such actions are characteristic of authoritarian regimes where critical voices are silenced under the guise of combating terrorism.
In December 2023 Karabay was arrested after reporting on corruption in the judiciary and released in January 2024
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns the arrest of journalist Furkan Karabay, whose detention for reporting on the investigation into opposition individual is a serious affront to press freedom. The use of baseless charges and aggressive tactics against a journalist performing his duty undermines democratic values and the right to access information. SEEMO emphasizes the vital role of a free press in society and will be closely monitoring this case to ensure that fundamental rights are respected, urging Turkish authorities to release Karabay and uphold media independence.
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non-governmental, non profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. SEEMO members are in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye / Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Austria, Italy, Vatican and San Marino have a special status in SEEMO. SEEMO has over 3000 individual members, and additional media as corporate members.
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