Grup Yorum member İbrahim Gökçek had agreed to take a break on his protest following some positive talks after 323 days on hunger strike protesting against concert bans and repression. The band announced the death of Gökçek , who was being treated in intensive care, on their social media account
Crackdown on journalists is on the rise during the corona pandemic. In Turkey, President Erdoğan filed a criminal complaint against Fox News anchor-man and journalist Fatih Portakal for spreading lies and manipulating the public through his social media posts. The story is always the same wherever you go: Fatih Portakal in Turkey, journalist Ana Lalic in Serbia, the law recently enacted in Vietnam, and the measures taken by the media supervision authority Roskomnadzor in Russia. Reporters continue to be accused with such vague language as “spreading fake news”, “sowing fear”, and “causing panic”
Participating in the homophobic campaign of Yeni Akit against ‘Aşk 101’ series, RTÜK President Ebubekir Şahin said that RTÜK, which undertakes the task of supervising internet broadcasting, will not allow broadcasts that are “contrary to the national and moral values of the society” and that “may adversely affect the physical and spiritual development of children and young people”
In Turkey, directors of the documentary movie Bakur (North) were sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison. This marked one of the harshest penalties imposed so far over the allegation of “disseminating terrorist group propaganda”. Speak Up Platform prepared a timeline of the Bakur trial and the developments surrounding it
Journalists reporting on the coronavirus pandemic that has shaken the world are coming under increasing pressure. According to the International Press Institute report, six journalists from Turkey were either investigated or questioned in March due to their coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
Taken into custody and detained on 8 December on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “spreading terrorist propaganda”, musician Yılmaz Çelik was released under judicial control
Turkish film, television, and advertising trade unions, associations, professional organizations, and platforms called upon government institutions and ministries to suspend filming for at least two weeks due to the risk involved in the sector in the face of coronavirus pandemic
In Turkey, musicians İbrahim Gökçek and Helin Bölek, who have been on indefinite hunger strike and in critical condition, were forcibly taken by an ambulance to the Ümraniye Training and Research Hospital for “forced intervention”
Turkish Deputy Minister announced that legal action is being taken against the supposedly “fake” news spread through social media platforms about the death of 33 Turkish soldiers during the airstrikes in Syria’s Idlib province
While the Governorship of Istanbul announced that all campaigns for saying “No to War” were banned, it also claimed that such actions and activities were “threatening social peace”.