Sözcü.com.tr Editor-in-Chief Ercüment İşleyen and Responsible News Editor Tuğba Nur Çelik were detained during the night of 26-27 October. After medical checks, police took the two journalists to the Istanbul Police Department complex on Vatan Avenue. İşleyen and Çelik were released late at night after giving statements. No official explanation was given for the grounds of the detention. Journalist Muratcan Altuntoprak reported that the action was taken because two university students arrested for protesting National Education Minister Yusuf Tekin had been described as “high school students” in a Sözcü report. According to Altuntoprak, the wording was treated as grounds for a charge of “publicly disseminating misleading information” under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code. Galatasaray University student Nehir Dizdar and Istanbul University student Nevin Tekin had been arrested on 25 October on a charge of “threat” after hanging a banner reading “If we have no future, you will have no peace, Yusuf Tekin resign” ahead of Minister Tekin’s visit to Kadıköy High School. The arrest decision alleged that the phrase “you will have no peace” constituted a threat. Following the decision, protests demanding the students’ release were held at various universities.
27 October 2026
bianet