- ETHA reporter Elif Bayburt, who had been held in pretrial detention for seven months, was released at her first hearing before the Istanbul 24th High Criminal Court.
- Bayburt’s next hearing will be held on Dec. 10.
Rabia Çetin
ISTANBUL — The first hearing in the trial of Etkin News Agency (ETHA) reporter Elif Bayburt, who had been held in pretrial detention for about seven months at Bakırköy Women’s Closed Prison in Istanbul, was held at the Istanbul 24th High Criminal Court. The panel of judges ordered Bayburt’s release at the end of the hearing.
Bayburt and her lawyers were present at the hearing. The hearing, which had been expected to begin at 11:45 a.m., started about two hours late.
“Hearings I covered were cited as grounds for the charges”
In the indictment charging Bayburt with “membership in a terrorist organization,” prosecutors cited as evidence her coverage of a hearing at the Istanbul 22nd High Criminal Court, her leaving the district office of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district with a group, and her attendance at a commemoration event.
After confirming her identity, Bayburt delivered her defense statement, saying she had worked as a journalist for five years.
“For five years, I have reported on social and political issues such as workers’ protests, International Women’s Day on March 8, femicides and Pride marches. What is being cited as grounds for the charges in the indictment today are the news reports I produced. Hearings I covered have been made the subject of accusations,” she said.
Bayburt was questioned about covering trials involving members of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), attending and taking photographs at a commemoration for the Suruç massacre, slogans chanted at commemorations, attending a press statement at the DEM Party’s Kadıköy district office, posts on ETHA’s social media account, online conversations with journalist Arzu Demir, who is wanted by authorities, and attending commemoration events in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood.
Bayburt said these activities were part of her journalistic work.
“I entered the hearings as a journalist by showing my press card. Covering a hearing is not a crime. I also attended the press conferences I went to as a journalist, for the purpose of reporting on them. The press statements and commemorations held in Kadıköy and Okmeydanı were not secret meetings; they were commemorations organized through public calls. In addition to an informant’s statement about the events I attended, photographs of me were taken. In those photographs, a camera can be seen hanging around my neck. I covered these events as a journalist,” she said.
“I already disclosed that I work at ETHA”
Bayburt also addressed a statement in the indictment by an informant who said she worked at ETHA.
“The informant stated that I work at ETHA. This is not something secret. At the beginning of my defense statement, I already said that I am a field reporter for ETHA. ETHA is not the media outlet of any organization. It is a news agency that publishes from a socialist perspective. We also report on every political party and organization.”
Bayburt said one of the phone calls cited as grounds for the charges was with Murat Çakır, coordinator of the Workers’ Health and Work Safety Assembly (İSİG). She said the conversation concerned work-related deaths of children.
“We are fighting so that children do not die. I do not accept that this conversation is being cited as grounds for an accusation,” Bayburt said.
She was questioned about conversations with lawmakers and journalists
Bayburt was also questioned about phone conversations she had with journalists Umut Taştan and Esra Solin Dal, as well as former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers Dersim Dağ and Murat Çepni.
Bayburt said the conversations were for news reporting purposes.
“The phone calls cited as grounds for the charges were conversations I had with lawmakers, lawyers, journalists and academics for news reports,” she said.
Bayburt was also questioned about money transfers listed in reports by Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK). Bayburt, who said she was a student at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, said the transfers came from fellow students and alumni solidarity networks.
“They were not organizational money transfers. All of the charges are based on my journalistic activities. I have therefore been in pretrial detention for eight months. I request my release and acquittal.”
Bayburt’s lawyer, Ahmet Baran Çelik, also requested her release, saying the accusations against his client concerned activities carried out as part of her journalistic work.
Asked for its opinion, the prosecution requested that Bayburt remain in pretrial detention, saying witnesses Mustafa Tezel and detained witness Arda Ata Özdoğan had not yet been heard.
Bayburt and her lawyer reiterated their request for her release.
After a recess, the panel of judges announced its decision. Bayburt was ordered released at the hearing, which observers were not allowed to attend.
Bayburt’s next hearing will be held on Dec. 10 at 10:35 a.m.
What happened?
Journalist Elif Bayburt was detained and subsequently jailed pending trial as part of a Feb. 3, 2026, operation targeting the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), Socialist Women’s Assemblies (SKM), Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF), Etkin News Agency (ETHA), the DİSK/Limter-İş union, Polen Ecology and BEKSAV.
In the indictment against Bayburt, prosecutors cited her journalistic activities, as well as her coverage of a hearing at the Istanbul 22nd High Criminal Court, her leaving the district office of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district with a group, and her participation in various commemorations and protests as evidence supporting the charges.
The indictment also cited Bayburt’s employment at ETHA, news reports published on the agency’s website and its social media posts as grounds for the charges. Prosecutors alleged that these activities showed Bayburt had established an “organic link” with the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) and sought her conviction on a charge of “membership in an armed terrorist organization.”
Bayburt’s first hearing was held on Sept. 17 at the Istanbul 24th High Criminal Court. The court ordered her release at the end of the hearing.
