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Türkiye arrests and beats journalists
THE government of Türkiye is cracking down on protests following the 19 March arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoǧlu, shortly before he was expected to be confirmed as the leading candidate to oppose Recep Tayyip Erdogan in presidential elections in 2026. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on 28 March was one of 15 organisations calling for the right of peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of expression during protests.
An anti-tear-gas take on Sufi costume at a protest in Istanbul on 23 March
At least 10 Turkish journalists had been detained by 24 March, with the Media and Law Studies Association reporting that some had been beaten.
On 1 April the IFJ condemned the arrest of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin upon his arrival in Türkiye on 30 March and the arrest and deportation of BBC journalist Mark Lowen on 28 March. Joakim was accused of alleged connections with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and charged with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” and “insulting the President”.
Prosecutors say Joakim was arrested in connection with a protest in Stockholm in 2023 against Türkiye's attacks on Kurds. The organisers of that protest the Rojava committee, deny that he was involved. His editor at Dagens ETC, Andreas Gustavsson, declared (in Swedish) “Joakim Medin is a journalist, nothing else.”
Joakim Medin
In 2018 Joakim published Kobane: den kurdiska revolutionen och kampen mot IS - Kobanî: the Kurdish revolution and the fight against IS - after reporting from the autonomous region of Rojava, in which Kobanî is the largest town.
On Sunday 6 April Dagens ETC and Joakim's family were informed that he had been transferred to the Silivri high-security prison, where Ekrem İmamoǧlu is also held.
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) also signed the statement on press freedom in Türkiye: it recalls that at least nine journalists were arrested in January.
Colleagues in Turkey also urgently need gas masks to safely report - while masks are available locally, the Turkish journalists’ union lacks funds to procure them. The EFJ asks individuals to donate to a solidarity fund to do so.
5 May 2025 On 30 April Joakim was convicted and given a suspended prison sentence of 11 months and 20 days for insulting the President. He remains in prison awaiting trial on the terror charges.
2 June 2025 Joakim Medin was released from prison on 16 May. Swedish Prime Minister Tweeted: "Hard work in relative silence has yielded results". From the reports we have so far found, that "relative silence" extends to the fate of the other charge against Joakim.
Turkey: another journalist arrested nuj.org.uk
Solidarity with Journalists in Turkey europeanjournalists.org via donorbox.org