9 May 2025

The Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit against Ahmet Kanbal, a reporter for Mezopotamya Agency (MA), on charges of “publicly disseminating misleading information” over his remarks during live broadcasts from Adıyaman in the aftermath of the February 6, 2023 earthquakes centered in Maraş.

The indictment prepared on the same charge was accepted by the Adıyaman Criminal Court of First Instance. While in 2023 the Mardin Chief Prosecutor’s Office had decided not to press charges against Kanbal on suspicion of “terrorist propaganda,” this time a criminal complaint was filed under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code, which penalizes “publicly disseminating misleading information.”

The indictment cited Kanbal’s comments during a live broadcast in the first days after the earthquake as evidence, in which he said: “I am at the Adıyaman Crisis Coordination Center. Volunteers are working, but the efforts have been insufficient since yesterday. Foreign teams arrived first, then AFAD. People here were left to die for three days. While volunteers are working in the rubble, AFAD volunteers are taking photos in front of the debris.”

The trial is scheduled to begin on 14 September 2025.

14 October 2025

The first hearing in the case against the Mezopotamya Agency reporter, Ahmet Kanbal, was held on 14 October 2025 at the Adıyaman 5th Criminal Court of First Instance. After the lawyer submitted an excuse and the court accepted Kanbal’s request to present his defence in Mardin, the hearing was adjourned to 3 November 2025.