Turkey: PEN Norway condemns Imamoğlu arrest and crackdown on free speech
PEN Norway denounces the many violations of human rights, of the freedom of the media, of the rights to assembly and demonstration, the restriction of defence lawyers’ access to the courts and to the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu.
PEN Norway strongly condemns the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu on 20 March and his subsequent formal arrest, pending trial on 23 March 2025. In what appears to be a clear attempt to prevent Imamoğlu from running as candidate of the CHP (Republican People’s Party) for President in the 2028 elections in Turkey. We condemn the underhand methods used to detain him and his colleagues in what appears to be a heist of democracy in Turkey.
We have monitored the human rights situation, notably freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, media freedom and the rights to assembly and demonstration very closely since 2018. Our Turkey Indictment Project’s final reports of 2020 and 2021 demonstrate clearly the baseless nature of cases against journalists and civil society actors in Turkey. Not one of the 29 indictments studied on our behalf by internationally-renowned lawyers abides by domestic or international standards.
In 2023, PEN Norway studied one of the indictments against Mayor İmamoğlu, in which he was accused of insult to political officials. The indictment report similarly concluded that the indictment fails to comply with both the domestic laws of Turkey and international standards. Additionally, the report emphasized a strong impression that the indictment was prepared not due to legal necessity, but rather due to political motivations.
During PEN Norway’s mission to Istanbul in September 2024 we met with Mayor Imamoğlu and discussed the dire state of the rule of law, the judiciary and our reporting and observations on the lack of media and personal freedoms in the country. The Mayor expressed similar concerns and declared his aims for Turkey to progress towards the restitution of the rule of law and to a cessation in the violations of citizens rights’ to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and demonstration and the right to access reliable news from multifaceted sources.
Following the detention of the CHP’s new Presidential candidate, Istanbul Mayor Imamoğlu on bogus charges of terrorism and corruption, despite widespread bans on assemblies and demonstrations imposed by governors in many cities, we witnessed the will of the peoples of Turkey expressed in rallies and protests in almost every city in Turkey. The levels of police violence towards the protestors, including women, lawyers, students, minors, journalists is wholly unacceptable and disproportionate. As is the clearly excessive use of water cannon, pepper spray and plastic bullets violates international conventions to which Turkey is a party. A blackout of the media ordered by the state, when issues of national security may be at stake, is something we have witnessed time and again.
However, this time we witnessed an open letter issued by the head of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), explicitly threatening media outlets – already very limited in number – that broadcasted live coverage of nationwide mass rallies and protests. The letter stated: “We emphasize and reiterate that sanctions, including long-term broadcasting bans and ultimately license revocations, will be imposed on media broadcasters which invite the public onto the streets, host commentators who speak as spokespersons of illegal organizations, conduct biased broadcasts violating individual rights, or air content containing insults or even threats directed towards state officials, judicial authorities conducting investigations, security personnel, and law enforcement.” This letter constitutes a misuse of RTÜK’s authority and an intolerable passing of the threshold of their duties to protect the viewing public and to carry out their role as unbiased media watchdog.
In addition to the intimidation of independent media through RTÜK, internet bandwidth throttling was implemented – as frequently occurs in Turkey – forcing many social media users to rely on applications such as VPNs to exercise their right to access information. Similarly, the government has submitted hundreds of requests to X (formerly Twitter), resulting in the blocking of X accounts belonging to widely active democratic organizations, student collectives, legal associations, and women’s organizations within the country.
During the protests ongoing for days, thousands of people have been detained nationwide, and as of 25 March 2025, these practices continue. Nearly every morning, house raids are carried out in major cities. On 24 March 2025, house raids targeted not only individuals accused of participating in protests but also journalists who reported on or documented these protests. Journalists Barış İnce, Bülent Kılıç, Zeynep Kuray, Yasin Akgül, Ali Onur Tosun, Hayri Tunç, Zişan Gür, Murat Kocabaş, a photojournalist from Bakırköy Municipality, and Kurtuluş Arı, a photojournalist from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, remain in detention.
We call upon the government of Turkey to respect the rule of law, the Constitution and also the rights of defence lawyers. We note that on March 21 the Istanbul Bar’s executive board was ordered disbanded by a judicial decision and that lawyers were forcibly prevented from entering Istanbul’s Palace of Justice on 22 March in anticipation of the arrival of Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu to stand before the court on the spurious charges aforementioned. Additionally, it has been reported that numerous lawyers have also been detained, both during the protests and in dawn raids on homes.
PEN Norway continues to stand by all colleagues in the media and in civil society in Turkey who are putting themselves in danger in order to demonstrably call for a return of rights and freedoms. We urge the authorities in Turkey to abide by domestic penal and procedural laws and to abide also by those international covenants and contracts to which they are signatory. In addition we call for the authorities to respect the rights of individuals across the country to vocalise their dissent, to media outlets to inform the public of the news and to the institutions such as the Istanbul Bar to fulfil its function as the safekeeper of the vocation of legal defence and the rule of law.
We call for the release of Mayor Imamoğlu and his colleagues from detention, for the dropping of these clearly well-time and baseless charges that appear to seek to prevent him from running as candidate for the Presidency and for Turkey to uphold all European Convention rights that we have seen denied to citizens, lawyers and political figures alike during the events of 20-23 March 2025.
Solidarity with our journalist, lawyer and civil society colleagues in Turkey.
