The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation on May 20 into Sefer Selçuk Özbek and Gökay Başcan, editors of the BirGün newspaper, on charges of insulting the president. Özbek and Başcan gave statements to the prosecutor’s office alongside their lawyers. The prosecutor’s office initiated the investigation due to a news article published on August 24, 2025, which addressed the investigations targeting students, scholarship cuts, and evictions from dormitories following the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu.
May 20, 2026
BirGün
