More journalists detained by Turkey in dawn raids after covering
anti-government protests
[March 28, 2025]
ANDREW WILKS
ISTANBUL (AP) — Two journalists were detained in dawn raids in Istanbul
early Friday as part of a crackdown on media workers covering Turkey’s
largest protests in more than a decade, their outlets reported.
Elif Bayburt, who works for the Etkin News Agency, and Nisa Suda Demirel,
from the Evrensel news website, were the latest to be arrested in early
morning sweeps that have targeted political activists and trades’
unionists as well as journalists.
“Our reporter, Nisa Sude Demirel, was detained by the police who came to
her house at around 6 a.m. this morning,” Evrensel said in a statement.
“Demirel, who was following the (Istanbul City Hall) protests and the
boycotts at the universities, was taken to the Istanbul Police
Department’s Counter-Terrorism Branch office.”
The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul’s
opposition Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. Imamoglu was jailed pending trial on corruption charges many
see as politically motivated. The government insists the judiciary is
independent and free of political interference.
Reporters Without Borders condemned the reporters’ arrests. “There is no
end to the detentions of journalists,” its Turkey representative Erol
Onderoglu said.
The Turkish Journalists' Union called for the news media to be allowed
to do its work and an “end to these unlawful detentions.”
Earlier this week, 11 journalists were detained in morning raids.
Although initially jailed pending trial, they were freed Thursday but
still face charges of “taking part in illegal rallies and marches.”
Turkey’s broadcasting authority issued a 10-day airwave ban on Sozcu TV
on Thursday, as well as fines and program suspensions to other
opposition channels. A reporter from the U.K.'s BBC was also deported
Thursday.
‘Children being treated like terrorists’
Courthouses across Turkey are dealing with a spike in cases as a result
of the protests. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Thursday that
nearly 1,900 people had been arrested since March 19.
Anxious families have been gathering outside court buildings to await
the fate of their loved ones, who police can hold for four days.
“The youth we call Generation Z are more likely to participate in these
protests. They sense that something is wrong," Savas Ozbek, whose
daughter was detained Sunday, told ANKA News Agency outside Ankara
Courthouse late Thursday.
Zeynep Ulger, who was waiting for news of her friend, said they were
protesting for a “free, democratic country,” adding: “The only thing we
have achieved in the face of this is being beaten by the police on the
streets and being detained.”
Istanbul-based lawyer Arif Anil Ozturk, who represents many detained
protesters, gave his insight into court proceedings.
“It is an unlawful process from beginning to end,” he told the
Cumhuriyet newspaper. “There is no evidence, no footage. Children… are
being treated like terrorists.”
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University students march past a photograph of Turkey's founder
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, March 27, 2025,
during a protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested
and sent to prison. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Nightly Istanbul rallies organized by Imamoglu’s Republican People’s
Party, or CHP, ended Tuesday. In other cities, and in Istanbul since
the end of the CHP gatherings, largely peaceful protests have been
more organic.
Police, however, have used tear gas, water cannon and plastic
pellets to suppress demonstrations that have been banned in
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Lawyers detained
At the Middle East Technical University campus on the outskirts of
the capital Ankara, nine students were detained early Friday,
opposition politicians who visited the site said.
“Young people have set up tents inside (the campus). Officious
administrators have evaluated this situation as a ‘threat’ and
invited the police to the university to conduct an operation,” CHP
Provincial Chairperson Umit Erkol said on social media.
Aylin Yaman, a CHP MP, said students were sitting on the grass and
singing when police stormed the area at 2 am. “We object to the
police entering here as if it were a dawn operation and creating an
atmosphere of fear,” she said.
The Istanbul Bar Association announced that three lawyers had been
among some 100 people arrest at a Thursday demonstration in the
city’s Sisli district. Lawyers also said they had been kept waiting
for hours outside police headquarters to gain access to detainees.
Following the overnight arrest of Imamoglu’s lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan,
it was revealed Friday that he is accused of money-laundering.
Imamoglu, in a social media post, said Pehlivan had been “detained
on fictitious grounds.”
‘We are concerned’ - Rubio
Turkey’s Nobel-winning author Orhan Pamuk, writing in several
European newspapers, said events over the past 10 days represented
“Erdogan’s strong-fisted, autocratic rule (at) a level we have not
seen before.”
Following a meeting with Turkey’s foreign minister earlier in the
week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described events in Turkey
as “disturbing.” Speaking on a return flight from Suriname late
Thursday, he said: “We are concerned, we don’t like to see the
direction that’s going... Anytime you have instability on the ground
you don’t like to see it.”
Imamoglu faces charges stemming from two investigations into the
opposition-controlled Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality – a
corruption case and one alleging support for terrorism.
The mayor has been confirmed as the CHP’s presidential candidate in
an election currently scheduled for 2028 but which is likely to take
place earlier. He has performed well in recent polls against Erdogan,
and his election as mayor of Turkey’s largest city in 2019 was a
major blow to the president.
—-
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Miami contributed to this
report.
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