October 17, 2024

17.10.2024 – Journalist Pınar Gayıp Faces Legal Harassment and Case Against Asuman Aranca

On 14 October 2024 Turkish journalist Pınar Gayıp, an editor at Etkin News Agency (ETHA), was shortly detained after being summoned to the Kocamustafapaşa Şehit Sinan Acar Police Station in Istanbul, Türkiye / Turkey. The detention followed a criminal complaint filed by one individual, who was previously convicted of sexual assault in 2022. This person has allegedly persistently targeted Gayıp, accusing her of various offenses, including defamation, child abuse, and membership in a terrorist organization, due to her coverage of his assault conviction. In March 2024, Gayıp received a six-month suspended sentence linked to her reporting on the case.

Gayıp was released after giving her statement to the prosecutor. This case underscores the larger issue of using legal mechanisms to intimidate and suppress journalistic freedom in Türkiye / Turkey. This incident highlights a worrying trend of legal harassment used to silence journalists.

In one other case in Türkiye / Turkey Asuman Aranca, working for T24, is charged with “violation of privacy” at the first hearing at 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance in Istanbul after her reporting on a murder case. The next hearing, after Aranca requested more time to answer to the prosecutor’s note, will be in March 2025. According to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, she was “exceeded the standards” of press freedom with her report. The prosecutor initiated the case in April this year. Aranca answered that she was aimed at informing the public. In April this year Aranca won the Award for Investigative Journalism in the Internet News Award category by the by the Turkish Journalists Association (Türkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti -TGC – https://www.tgc.org.tr)

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns the legal harassment faced by Turkish journalist Pınar Gayıp, following her critical reporting. SEEMO is also alarmed about the case against Asuman Aranca, working for T24. This pattern of using legal complaints to intimidate and silence journalists is an alarming threat to press freedom. SEEMO calls for an immediate end to the unjust charges against Gayıp and Aranca and stands in solidarity with both women journalists, emphasizing that SEEMO will be closely monitoring this cases and all similar incidents aimed at suppressing free journalism in Türkiye / Turkey.

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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