3 June 2025
Tuğçe Yılmaz, news editor at bianet, was detained by police during an identity check at Kadıköy Pier in Istanbul on 3 June.
She was taken to the Kadıköy Pier Police Station for questioning and spent the night in custody without being allowed to see her lawyer.
It was later learned that proceedings were initiated against her under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (“denigrating the Turkish nation, the Republic, or the state institutions and organs”). Yılmaz was released after giving her statement at the Istanbul Anadolu Courthouse in Kartal.
It emerged that an investigation had been opened against her on 18 March over her report titled “Armenian youth in Turkey speak: 109 years of mourning,” and that the case had been referred to court two days earlier without any prior notification to her.
IPS Communication Foundation’s Legal Advisor Aynur Tuncel Yazgan criticized the lack of access to the case file, stressing that without clear grounds for detention and access to the file, both the right to object to detention and the preparation of a defense are undermined. She also questioned why a detention order was issued in a case where detention is legally prohibited, especially for a journalist with a known residence and workplace.
