The International Press Institute (IPI) strongly condemns the widespread attacks against journalists —including physical violence, mass detentions, and sweeping digital censorship measures— following the formal charging of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu with corruption on March 23. These actions represent one of the most severe crackdowns in Turkey since the Gezi Park protests in 2013.

IPI condemns the Turkish government’s systematic efforts to obstruct journalists’ work and restrict public access to information of huge public interest and demands an immediate end to this policy threatening mass censorship.

The most severe incident involved journalist Tansel Can, who was brutally attacked by seven police officers and hospitalized. Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency reporter Hakan Akgün suffered a broken nose, and Reuters correspondent Dilara Şenkaya sustained forehead injuries from police violence.

AFP photojournalist Yasin Akgül, Bianet reporter Ali Dinç, İlke TV reporter Eylül Deniz Yaşar, freelance photojournalists Kemal Aslan and Rojda Altıntaş, Akit TV reporter Serkan Okur, Özgür Gelecek reporter Yusuf Çelik, and BirGün reporters Ebru Çelik and Deniz Güngör were also attacked by police.

Despite clearly identifying themselves as journalists, they were indiscriminately targeted with pepper spray, rubber bullets and subjected to aggressive police tactics while performing their professional duties.

Journalist Eylül Deniz Yaşar, who was hit with pepper spray while covering the protests in İstanbul, spoke to IPI. “Despite the media crackdown, journalists here—both our imprisoned colleagues and those of us outside—continue to practice nothing but pure journalism. We, as journalists, are being targeted and punished today but will become tomorrow’s leading voices in this country,” Yaşar said.

On the morning of March 24, the police raided journalists’ homes across multiple cities and detained them for their coverage of protests in Istanbul’s Saraçhane district and other locations.

Among those detained in İstanbul were photojournalist Bülent Kılıç, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) photojournalist Kurtuluş Arı, AFP photojournalist Yasin Akgül, NOW TV reporter Ali Onur Tosun, BirGün columnist Barış İnce, Sendika.org reporter Zişan Gür, and journalists Hayri Tunç and Zeynep Kuray. Journalist Emre Orman is sought by the police following a raid on his home. Photojournalist Murat Kocabaş was also detained by the Anti-Terror Branch in İzmir.

According to initial reports, the journalists were detained under Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations for documenting and reporting on the protests.

Turkish authorities have implemented widespread censorship measures, blocking over 700 social media accounts including at least six news organizations, several journalists and political figures under Turkey’s internet law that allows the authorities to quickly block websites and social media accounts on national security grounds.

On March 20, Turkey’s broadcast regulator (RTÜK) issued maximum penalties to TV channels including Halk TV, Szc TV, Tele1, and NOW TV for alleged violations of broadcasting principles.

On March 22, the RTÜK chair threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from TV channels, which failed to rely solely on official statements and information from the authorities and prohibited any statements or commentators discussing calls for public protests. Following this warning, pro-government channels ceased their live coverage of the protests.

Tuncay Keser, RTÜK member for the opposition CHP party, the same party as the arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, filed a complaint against the national public broadcaster TRT News over its coverage of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) investigation. Keser accused TRT of violating broadcasting principles and press standards of impartiality, by treating the Imamoglu and the other detainees as guilty before trial.

Last week, the authorities had restricted access to social media by throttling the bandwidth of major platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, Telegram, and Signal, in the days after the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and 105 others on March 19.

These coordinated attacks are a severe deterioration of media freedom in Turkey. We demand that Turkish authorities release all detained journalists, investigate police violence, hold perpetrators accountable, lift social media restrictions and uphold the fundamental right to report on all matters of public interest. Journalism is not a crime—the right to inform the public remains essential to a democratic society.