A court in Ankara opened proceedings against Deutsche Welle reporter Alican Uludag and ordered his release from detention while the case remains pending. The next hearing is set for September 18. His lawyer Abbas Yalcin welcomed the release after months behind bars but said the time in custody amounted to a de facto punishment: ‘the period in detention could be seen as the equivalent of a punishment issued prior to conviction, or even as exceeding this.’ Yalcin added that even if Uludag were convicted, ‘he would not spend 90 days in prison.’
Uludag was detained in February on accusations that he insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spread misleading information and disparaged state institutions and the Turkish state in 22 social media posts. Insulting the president is a criminal offense in Turkey and has been prosecuted frequently during Erdogan’s more than two decades in power. Uludag, who reported on contentious topics such as the judiciary, human rights and corruption, has denied all charges and said he was objectively reporting.
Denied permission to appear in person, Uludag participated in the hearing by video link and described this as ‘a breach of my right to a fair defense.’ He told the court he had been separated from his family and workplace for around 90 days and defended his work: ‘As an independent journalist I tried to write the truth and to defend the public’s right to information. I was frequently threatened, but my conscience is clear. I have never done things as a journalist that I now have cause to regret. The freedom of press and opinion guaranteed by our constitution must not be infringed.’ He demanded acquittal: ‘I have committed no crimes, rather I have only done my job; I have insulted nobody and I demand an acquittal.’
After his release Uludag said it was a bittersweet moment because other journalists remain detained, naming Merdan Yanardag among those still behind bars. He relayed a message of continued resistance: ‘We will continue to resist for freedom and democracy… We will continue the fight for press freedom and the public’s right to information until all imprisoned journalists in Turkey are released.’ He thanked colleagues and his lawyers, Tora Pekin and Abbas Yalcin, and vowed to keep working as a journalist: ‘We have only one weapon, and that is our pen. We will never put that pen down.’
Deutsche Welle Director General Barbara Massing said she was relieved by Uludag’s release but called it troubling that the proceedings will continue. She said DW demands the charges be dropped immediately and noted that Uludag spent much of his detention — some reports say 92 days — in the high-security Silivri prison in Istanbul, far from his family. ‘Alican Uludag was simply doing his job as a court reporter,’ she said, adding that his arrest illustrates how critical voices in Turkey are being intimidated and silenced.
Erol Onderoglu, chairman of Reporters Without Borders in Turkey, wrote that Uludag should never have been jailed and described the detention as mistreatment of an investigative journalist. His release was welcomed by press groups that protested outside the Ankara courtroom this week.
Turkey regularly ranks low on global press freedom indexes, in part because of repeated imprisonment of critical reporters. In the latest RSF Press Freedom Index, Turkey fell four places to 163rd out of 180 countries, ranking near nations such as Iraq and Sudan and below many democratic peers. The legal proceedings against Uludag will continue when the court reconvenes in September.