MEDIA MONITORING DATABASE
Lawsuit against Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi for ‘Insulting Turkishness
RELATED PERSON OR INSTITUTION
Elif Bayburt
CITY
İstanbul
LAST UPDATED
02/01/2025
TYPE OF STATEMENT
Political
MEDIUM
Internet
News Agency
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. 301

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has filed a lawsuit against Etkin News Agency (ETHA) reporter Elif Bayburt over her interview on “Palestine” with Rob Sadler from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The Press Crimes Investigation Bureau accused Bayburt of “insulting the Turkish nation, the state of the Republic of Turkey, and the institutions and organs of the state” (Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code) due to the interview, which was also published in Atılım magazine. The accusation was based on Sadler’s statement: “…The governments of Turkey and the U.S. are complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.” The Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment on January 2