The undersigned media freedom, freedom of expression and human rights organisations strongly condemn the arrest of Deutsche Welle (DW) correspondent Alican Uludağ and call on the Turkish authorities to drop all charges against him and cease the judicial harassment of journalists reporting on matters of public interest.
On the evening of February 19, investigative journalist Alican Uludağ was detained by dozens of police officers who raided his home in Ankara and confiscated his digital equipment. The journalist was then transferred to Istanbul for interrogation and formally arrested on February 20.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that Uludağ was detained as part of an investigation on charges of “insulting the president” and “disseminating disinformation,” citing his social media posts related to news coverage in its announcement. The journalist was subsequently arrested on the charge of “insulting the president” following his interrogation.
DW has reported that the detention is specifically linked to Uludağ’s December 2024 coverage regarding the deadly 2016 Istanbul Atatürk Airport attack and his social media posts criticizing the measures taken by the Turkish government.
In 2024, Uludağ detailed the overturning of aggravated life sentences for six ISIS members who were imprisoned in relation to the airport attack, leading to their subsequent release. Despite confirming the accuracy of the reported releases, the Directorate of Communications paradoxically accused the journalist of “disseminating disinformation,” claiming the reporting was intended to create a “false public perception.”
Uludağ’s unjustified detention is the latest example of the instrumentalization of criminal justice in Turkey to suppress press freedom. Reporting on court rulings and covering high-profile trials is a fundamental duty of the press and is essential for public accountability.
Our organisations stress that Uludağ is an award-winning journalist known for his rigorous coverage of judicial affairs, human rights violations, and corruption. The use of judicial harassment and disproportionate police presence to silence a well-known investigative journalist constitutes a clear act of intimidation and is aimed at chilling investigative reporting in Turkey.
The undersigned organisations call on the Turkish authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Alican Uludağ, drop all charges related to his journalistic work and social media commentary, and stop the systematic use of the “disinformation law” and “insulting the president” charges to stifle independent media.
