- The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) monitored 120 court hearings in insult cases between January 2025 and May 2026. Journalists or other media workers accounted for 61.7% of the defendants.
- A total of 44.2% of the hearings involved prosecutions under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes insulting the president.
- News reports and social media posts were the most common forms of evidence. News content was submitted as evidence in 45 of the 120 hearings, while social media posts were cited in another 45 hearings.
- MLSA also noted that judicial control measures, including travel bans, became increasingly common for journalists beginning in the second half of 2025.
A case monitoring report by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) covering 2025-2026 found that a significant share of criminal insult prosecutions in Turkey stemmed from journalistic activities and social media posts.
According to the report, MLSA monitored 120 hearings involving insult charges between January 2025 and May 2026. Of those, 53 were held under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes insulting the president.
The report said 44.2% of the monitored hearings involved prosecutions under Article 299, while 34.2% were related to allegations of insulting a public official. Cases involving both insult and defamation charges accounted for 11.7% of the hearings, while 10% involved insult charges alongside other criminal allegations.
MLSA's data also highlighted the implications of the prosecutions for press freedom. Journalists, reporters and other media workers made up 61.7% of the defendants in the monitored hearings. Politicians and political party members accounted for 9.2% of defendants, followed by artists and cartoonists at 3.3%.
The report also drew attention to the types of evidence used in the cases. Social media posts were submitted as evidence in 45 hearings, while news reports were cited as evidence in another 45. Public meetings, demonstrations or press statements were used as evidence in 26 cases, complainants' statements in 31 cases, and police reports, public surveillance camera footage or incident reports in 22 cases. In two cases, complaints submitted through the Presidential Communication Center (CİMER) or broadcast recordings were used as evidence.
The report also highlighted the profile of complainants in cases prosecuted under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code. In 43.3% of the monitored hearings, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was listed as the complainant. Cases in which members of the judiciary or security forces were the complainants accounted for 20% of the total, while public officials, ministers or government administrators were complainants in 10.8% of the cases.
The report said prosecutions stemming from news reports about members of the judiciary and security forces appeared to function as a means of deterring journalists. Among the cases monitored were prosecutions launched following complaints by judicial officials against journalists Can Dündar, Barış Terkoğlu, İbrahim Aydın, Uğur Koç and Yaşar Gökdemir.
According to MLSA's monitoring data, some journalists faced multiple criminal proceedings during the same period. The report said journalist Furkan Karabay was a defendant in 15 of the 120 hearings monitored in 2025-2026. It also noted that journalists Barış Terkoğlu and Barış Pehlivan appeared repeatedly in separate cases. The report cited the monitoring of journalist Sedef Kabaş's case in both February 2025 and February 2026 as an example of how the length of criminal proceedings can itself constitute a form of pressure.
The report also devoted a section to the case of Swedish journalist Kaj Joakim Medin. It said Medin was tried under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code on April 30, 2025, with news reports and social media posts used as evidence. MLSA said the case illustrated an expansive interpretation of Article 299 that extends to foreign journalists.
Among the 32 hearings in which verdicts were delivered, courts handed down convictions in 12 cases and acquittals in 11. Five cases resulted in both convictions and partial acquittals, while two were dismissed. The report said courts ordered the deferment of the announcement of the verdict in nine cases, adding that the practice prolongs legal uncertainty and continues to place pressure on journalists.
Istanbul accounted for the largest share of the hearings by location. Of the 120 hearings monitored, 82 were held in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and media hub. Ten hearings took place in Ankara, seven in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, and 21 in other provinces.
The report said the concentration of cases in Istanbul reflects the centralization of Turkey's national media, while also illustrating the extent to which prosecutions under Article 299 and similar provisions affect major news organizations.
In its concluding section, MLSA said criminal insult prosecutions have effectively become a press freedom issue in Turkey. It said the high proportion of media workers among defendants, the reliance on news reports and social media posts as evidence, and the fact that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the complainant in a significant number of cases point to a systematic pattern.
The report also referred to European Court of Human Rights case law finding violations of freedom of expression in rulings issued under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code. MLSA said judicial control measures, particularly travel bans, became increasingly common for journalists beginning in the second half of 2025, describing them as an additional mechanism of pressure that restricts freedom without involving pretrial detention.
According to MLSA, requiring journalists to simultaneously defend themselves in multiple criminal cases and attend numerous court hearings amounts to what it described as "judicial harassment," a pattern that both drains professional resources and creates psychological pressure.
