ISTANBUL (Medyascope) – Amnesty International has released a call for press freedom in Turkey on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. In the call, Amnesty called for an end to criminal proceedings into journalists, saying some elements of the Turkish Criminal Code have been “instrumentalized in order to limit freedom of expression.”
The announcement also called for an end to the targeting of journalists reporting on corruption, saying such measures lead to self-censorship.
World Press Freedom Day takes place every year on May 3rd, the date of Amnesty’s Turkey-related announcement.
The announcement specifically mentioned Turkey’s ‘disinformation law’, passed in 2022, which has been criticized by the Turkish opposition and rights organizations for limiting freedom of speech in Turkey. The controversial law demands prison sentences for up to three years for individuals who retweet, like, or share social media posts deemed to be “contrary to facts and aimed at causing panic.” Following the law’s 2022 ratification, Amnesty described it as ‘censorship’.
Journalist cases point to widening crackdown on media
Amnesty mentioned the cases of imprisoned journalists such as Birgün correspondent Ismail Arı, TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, Deutsche Welle correspondent Alican Uludağ, ETHA correspondent Pinar Gayıp, Zafer Arapkirli, and Medyascope correspondent Furkan Karabay as examples of Turkey’s issues with press freedom.
According to Amnesty International, Turkey’s media sphere has been significantly curtailed in the last 10 years, driven by fines from Turkey’s media watchdog (RTÜK), takeover of independent channels by state-appointed trustees, and license cancellations.
Amnesty’s May 3rd announcement comes on the heels of the 2026 Press Freedom Index released in late April by Journalists Without Borders (RSF), which ranked press freedom in Turkey as 163 out of 180 countries included in the report.
Written/Translated by Leo Kendrick for Medyascope
