Press Freedom Groups Condemn Turkey’s Use of “Disinformation Law” to Silence Journalists

A coalition of 25 international press freedom organizations, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), has issued a strong condemnation of Turkey’s escalating use of its controversial “disinformation law” to target journalists. According to the groups, Turkish authorities have dramatically increased their application of Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code to arrest, detain, and prosecute journalists in recent months.

Since the law came into force in October 2022, at least 83 journalists have faced 114 charges related to alleged disinformation. The organizations are calling for the immediate repeal of the provision and the release of all journalists imprisoned under it.

Among the most frequently targeted journalists are BirGün’s İsmail Arı, who has faced charges six times, and Deutsche Welle Turkish correspondent Alican Uludağ, charged four times under the law. Both are currently behind bars.

The crackdown has intensified in 2024, with several high-profile cases demonstrating the law’s application as a tool to silence legitimate reporting. On February 19, judicial reporter Alican Uludağ was taken into custody in Ankara on charges of “insulting the president” and spreading disinformation. While he was ultimately arrested on the former charge, he still faces the disinformation accusation.

In March, journalist Bilal Özcan was detained after reporting that an influencer’s death might have been a homicide rather than a suicide. He remains in pretrial detention in Istanbul. Days later, İsmail Arı was apprehended while visiting family and transported to Ankara over a report about financial mismanagement at public foundations. Despite maintaining that his reporting contained publicly available information, he has been imprisoned in Ankara’s Sincan Prison awaiting trial.

The arrests have continued into April, with multiple journalists facing severe penalties. On April 14, journalists Murat Ağırel and Barış Pehlivan were each sentenced to one year and three months in prison under Article 217/A for commentary about trade between Turkey and Israel. The same day, journalist Zafer Arapkirli received a two-and-a-half-year sentence for a social media post condemning attacks on Alawite settlements in Syria.

Other recent cases include Turgay Kılıç of NEO TV, who was detained for sharing screenshots of threats against schools circulating on Telegram, and Mehmet Yetim, editorial director of Kulis TV, who was imprisoned over a social media post that authorities claimed violated the disinformation law.

Press freedom advocates argue that Turkey’s approach makes it “a regional and even global outlier” in the misuse of disinformation legislation. The coalition highlights structural problems with the law, which fails to clearly define what constitutes “untrue information” or specify what content poses actual threats to national security or public order.

This ambiguity grants courts unchecked power to criminalize journalism, particularly reporting that challenges official narratives. As one persecuted journalist noted, any information not sourced directly from the government risks being deemed false under the current application of the law.

The signatory organizations emphasize that a free and independent press serves as the most effective safeguard against the spread of false information, and criminalizing journalism undermines this essential function.

The coalition’s demands include the immediate release of all journalists arrested under Article 217/A, the dropping of all pending charges against journalists for their reporting, the complete repeal of the controversial provision, and bringing all legislation affecting freedom of expression into compliance with Turkey’s international obligations.

The joint statement represents a unified international response to what press freedom advocates see as a systematic effort to silence independent journalism in Turkey through legislative means.