MEDIA MONITORING DATABASE
Barış Terkoğlu – Trial for “insulting public officer”
RELATED PERSON OR INSTITUTION
Barış Terkoğlu
CITY
İstanbul
YEAR OF INTERFERENCE
2023
LAST UPDATED
09/11/2023
TYPE OF STATEMENT
Political
MEDIUM
Print Media
Newspaper
THE TITLE OF WHOSE RIGHT IS INTERFERED
Journalist
RIGHTS GUARANTEED UNDER THE RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Right to Impart Information and Ideas
TYPE OF INTERFERENCE
Judicial Interference
Criminal Courts
Approval of the indictment and initiating the prosecution
THE LEGAL GROUNDS FOR INTERFERENCE
Turkish Penal Code
Art. 125/3

Journalist Barış Terkoğlu is on trial together with IYI Party Deputy Chairman Ahmet Zeki Üçok on charges of “insulting a public official due to the performance of his public duty;” (TCK 125/3-a) for his articles titled “How well-connected FETÖ members are saved” and “Mr. Prosecutor, I’m coming, add this article, too” published in Cumhuriyet newspaper in April 2023.

At the first hearing held on November 9 at Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, Terkoğlu requested time from the court to prepare his defense. The court accepted the time request. The next hearing is scheduled for February 22 (9 November).

21 November 2024

The Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance continued the trial of Barış Terkoğlu, columnist for Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Ahmet Zeki Üçok, retired military prosecutor and former deputy chair of the İYİ Party.

At the hearing, which was monitored by RSF representative Erol Önderoğlu, the court decided to expand the investigation. It ruled to inquire with the HSK regarding whether any action had been taken on prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü’s allegations and petition, and with the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding whether an investigation had been launched. The trial was adjourned to 8 May 2025. (21 November)

8 May 2025

At the 8 May hearing of the trial, where Barış Terkoğlu and Ahmet Zeki Üçok are charged with “successively insulting a public official,” the court requested information from the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) regarding a complaint filed by prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü. It also inquired whether the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched an investigation into the related allegations. The next hearing is scheduled for 6 November 2025.

6 November 2025

At the sixth hearing held at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, the court ruled to request the indictment against retired prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü from the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The request to hear Kökçü as a witness was rejected. The next hearing was scheduled for 28 April 2026 at 14:30.