The Grand National Assembly of Türkiye rejected a motion submitted by İYİ Party seeking an investigation into practices that had undermined press freedom. İYİ Party MP Selcan Taşcı criticized charges and prison demands against journalists over reports on the fund investigation and called for those who obtained illicit gains to be prosecuted. YENİ Parti MP Utku Çakırözer said a total of 56 years in prison was sought for four journalists. He argued that Alican Uludağ was being tried for reporting on a building collapse in Gebze that killed four people, while no case had been filed against those responsible for the incident. Çakırözer said 11 journalists were detained, six were arrested and access was blocked to 867 X accounts in October. CHP MP Kadri Enis Berberoğlu said salaries of employees at Halk TV, which had come under the management of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, were delayed by five days and that some were paid after interventions. DEM Party MP Onur Düşünmez called for the release of jailed journalists, the lifting of access blocks and trustee practices, reconsideration of Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code and removal of obstacles to Kurdish-language broadcasting. AKP MP Şengül Karslı said press freedom should be defended but that not every judicial procedure could be described as pressure or every administrative sanction as censorship. İYİ Party MP Turhan Çömez argued that TRT broadcast in favor of the government, that $12 billion in taxes had been collected for the institution during the government’s tenure and that 95 percent of the media had come under government control.
5 November 2026
Cumhuriyet