Journalist Tolga Şardan was taken to the Ankara Courthouse under police escort as part of an investigation launched following a criminal complaint by the BTK. Following his statement to the prosecutor’s office, the court issued a “ban on leaving the country” for Şardan.
Şardan had recently written in an article published on T24 that the repository of all electronic signature user passwords kept at the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) had been “hacked”. BTK denied the claim and filed a criminal complaint.
In today’s article, Şardan wrote, “Instead of inviting me by phone, the prosecutor’s office chose to take me to the hospital and then to the prosecutor’s office. I was first taken to the hospital and then to the prosecutor’s office. I gave a statement, I stood by the accuracy of the information, but the court imposed a travel ban on me.”
Şardan had been through similar judicial processes before. Journalists’ organizations reacted to the decision, calling it a violation of press freedom.
September 9, 2025
BirGün