Emre Soncan

Foreign military affairs correspondent and author Soncan was arrested in a purge of suspected followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, who was blamed for the July 2016 attempted coup.… More

Mümtaz’er Türköne

Police detained Türköne, a columnist for the daily Zaman, as part of a purge of suspected Gülenists after the failed July 2016 coup. Türköne was sentenced in 2018 to… More

Ali Ünal

A columnist at the daily Zaman, Ünal was arrested in August 2016 during a purge of followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen following the coup attempt. Ünal had previously… More

Writers at Risk Database

Selahattin Demirtaş

Writer and leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, Demirtaş has been jailed since 2016 despite his detention being ruled unconstitutional and the ECHR ordering his release. In March… More

Gültekin Avcı

Avcı, a former columnist at shuttered newspaper Bugün, was arrested following the failed July 2016 coup. His trial was merged with a separate trial where defendants were accused of… More

Fikret Başkaya

Başkaya, an academic and author of several books on topics including socialism, politics, and corruption in Türkiye, was arrested in November 2017 on the basis of an article he… More

Writers at Risk Database

Hanım Büşra Erdal

Reporter and columnist Erdal was detained in a sweep of journalists writing for Zaman, a newspaper forced to close after the failed 2016 coup, and sentenced on terrorism charges.… More

Writers at Risk Database

Siraphop Kornaroot Rung Sila

Rung Sila was detained for writing a poem deemed offensive to the monarchy and faced 45 years in prison under the lèse-majesté law. Granted bail in 2019 after nearly… More

Ahmet Altan

Altan was detained after the 2016 coup attempt on spurious charges. After his life sentence was reduced to 10.5 years, he was released in 2019, but was promptly rearrested.… More

Writers at Risk Database

Zehra Doğan

In July 2016, Doğan was arrested for creating a painting of Turkish city Nusaybin bombarded by state security forces. In 2017, she was sentenced to nearly three years in… More