A lawsuit was filed against journalists Barış Terkoğlu and Can Bursalı and Independent Türkçe news website upon the criminal complaint of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal on charges of “public insult” and “libel”. 

At the first hearing of the case held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on September 20, 2022, the prosecutor’s office requested that the deficiencies be rectified. The court gave time to journalist Can Bursalı and his lawyer time until they prepared their defense statements. The next hearing will be held on January 26 (September 20).

The hearing to be held by the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on January 26, 2023 was adjourned as the judge was on sick leave (January 26).

The ninth hearing of the case filed against journalists Can Bursalı, Barış Terkoğlu, Barış Pehlivan, Gökmen Karadağ, Doğan Akın, Nevzat Çiçek, Can Özçelik, Fatih Portakal and Ayşenur Arslan on charges of “public insult” and “libel” was held on July 4 at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The case filed against Ayşenur Arslan based on Mustafa Doğan İnal’s complaint was combined with the current file. The court decided that Fatih Portakal, one of the defendants whose statement was not taken, should be prepared for the next hearing. The hearing was postponed to November 28 (July 4).

28 November 2024

The Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance continued the trial of nine journalists over allegations concerning Mustafa Doğan İnal, a former lawyer of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The case was initially launched against Independent Türkçe editor-in-chief Nevzat Çiçek, reporter Can Bursalı, and journalists Barış Terkoğlu and Barış Pehlivan following an interview published on 3 December 2020, on charges of “insult” (Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code) and “defamation” (Article 267). As proceedings continued, several related files were merged, and journalists Doğan Akın, Gökmen Karadağ, Fatih Portakal, Can Özçelik, and Ayşenur Arslan were also added as defendants.

At the hearing on 28 November 2024, newly added defendant Fatih Portakal stated that he is a journalist, and explained that they were discussing the book “Metastaz 2: Cendere”, co-authored by Terkoğlu and Pehlivan, along with an article published in Cumhuriyet. He added: “I believe I know the difference between criticism and insult.”

The court decided to inquire with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office as to whether the audio recordings referenced in the book had been examined, and ordered that the results of such examination be submitted to the case file. The trial was adjourned to 29 May 2025.