Deniz Tekin
A Turkish court on Thursday held the first hearing in the trial of journalist Berivan Kutlu, who is facing charges of “terrorist propaganda” over a social media post and televised remarks allegedly made after the devastating earthquakes that struck southeastern Turkey in February 2023. The court ordered that the video in question be reviewed by police.
The trial is being heard by the 4th High Criminal Court in Diyarbakır, a major city in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast. Kutlu is a reporter for the Mezopotamya News Agency, which is known for its pro-Kurdish reporting. The case stems from her alleged participation in a TV broadcast and her social media activity following the Feb. 6, 2023, earthquakes centered in the city of Kahramanmaraş (Maraş), which killed more than 50,000 people across 11 provinces.
Kutlu and her lawyer were present at the hearing, which was also attended by representatives of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) and fellow journalists. The hearing began with identity verification and a summary of the indictment, after which Kutlu delivered her defense statement.
Denying the charges, Kutlu acknowledged that the social media account in question belonged to her but stated that some of the posts cited in the indictment were not hers. She said she did not post images of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan or flags of the group, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Kutlu confirmed that she only shared a graphic marking the 6th anniversary of JinNews, a pro-Kurdish women’s news outlet.
Her lawyer, Resul Temur, argued that the images presented as evidence were not originally posted by Kutlu, claiming that the police confused her account with another. He also noted a discrepancy in video durations, stating that the screen capture Kutlu allegedly shared was 2 minutes and 55 seconds long, while the video analyzed by police was 2 minutes and 59 seconds long. Temur said police had examined a different video and misattributed it to his client.
The prosecutor requested that missing elements in the case file be completed. The presiding judge asked for an additional defense regarding “successive offenses,” a legal concept in Turkish law that allows for harsher sentencing in cases involving repeated acts of the same crime. Kutlu repeated her previous defense, while Temur again insisted that the video mentioned in the indictment had not been posted from Kutlu’s social media account and requested further investigation.
Announcing its interim decision, the court ruled that the video allegedly shared by Kutlu be sent to police for technical analysis within 10 days. Once the analysis is complete, the file will be forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for preparation of the final opinion. The next hearing was scheduled for Jan. 29, 2026.
Background: What happened?
According to the indictment, which was initially prepared by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and then transferred to Diyarbakır due to lack of jurisdiction, an investigation was launched into reporters who made “provocative statements” during live broadcasts from the earthquake zone.
Kutlu was reporting from the affected area in the aftermath of the Feb. 6 quakes. In a video cited by prosecutors, she allegedly said, “This isn’t a real search-and-rescue operation—it’s an effort to tamper with evidence. Village guards from Şırnak are removing people from the area. People have essentially been left to die.” These comments were presented as criminal evidence.
Prosecutors also relied on open-source internet research conducted by police, which flagged several posts allegedly made by Kutlu as evidence of criminal activity. They argued that her defense statements were an attempt to avoid punishment and demanded that she be convicted of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.”
