Alican Uludag, DW’s long-serving Turkey correspondent, has been held in pre-trial detention since February 20. He faces three criminal charges — publicly insulting the president, public dissemination of misleading information, and publicly denigrating state institutions — and could receive up to 19 years in prison if convicted. The actual trial has not yet begun.
Although Uludag lives in Ankara, he was arrested in Istanbul and the case was opened there. Under Turkish law, jurisdiction normally lies with the prosecutor and court where the alleged offense occurred. Uludag’s lawyers challenged Istanbul’s jurisdiction and have now partly prevailed: an Istanbul court ruled it lacked jurisdiction and referred the case to an Ankara court, but at the same time accepted the charges and ordered an investigation — a move the defense calls contradictory. Meanwhile, Uludag remains detained although the file has not been assigned to a court.
His lawyers have appealed to Turkey’s Constitutional Court, arguing that his detention violates fundamental rights, including personal liberty, the right to a fair trial, and freedoms of expression and of the press. Abbas Yalcin, one of the defense lawyers, said that if the Constitutional Court accepts the appeal Uludag will be released immediately; if it rejects the appeal the file will go to Ankara and the defense will file for his release, expecting him to be freed at the first hearing at the latest.
Uludag has worked as a court reporter for 18 years and covered numerous political trials. His lawyers maintain he was detained for his journalism and critical reporting, not for any crime, and that there is no legal basis for his continued pre-trial detention. They argue the detention criteria are not met: there is no risk he would flee or tamper with evidence, and he has cooperated with authorities in the past.
The case is based on social media posts and reporting, including criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a DW profile of Turkey’s new justice minister, Akin Gurlek. The defense cites European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) jurisprudence that laws penalizing insults against political leaders should not be used to criminalize legitimate political criticism, and that public officials must tolerate a higher degree of criticism than private individuals.
Press freedom organizations such as Reporters Without Borders view Uludag’s detention as part of a broader pattern of legal pressure on journalists in Turkey. They and other NGOs say investigations and prosecutions are used to deter critical reporting and point to structural problems in the Turkish judicial system. Yalcin described the process as intimidation: being arrested and detained for journalistic work, he said, undermines fundamental rights.
Uludag is among several journalists currently detained in Turkey. Recently, reporter Ismail Ari of the national left-leaning daily Birgun was arrested on similar charges. Last month, large demonstrations for press freedom took place in Ankara and Istanbul; police dispersed the protests.
This article was originally published in German.