The trial of journalist and writer Ercüment Akdeniz, who is being prosecuted on the allegation of “membership in an organization,” was adjourned to June 2. Akdeniz, who was detained as part of operations targeting the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) and later arrested by the court to which he was referred, was released on Oct. 23, 2025, after spending 243 days in prison.
Akdeniz appeared as a guest on the program Çetele with Onur Öncü, broadcast on the MLSA YouTube channel, where he spoke about the postponed trial and the pressure faced by journalists.
Making evaluations regarding the case, Akdeniz said:
“For three hearings, we have been trying to explain that we are innocent by giving reasonable answers to unreasonable questions. The indictments and wiretaps prepared by the police date back to 2011–2013. A full 14 years have passed since then. That period was quite a dubious one. As you know, it was a time when FETÖ operations were taking place within the police. We are faced with very amateurishly prepared, constructed indictments. The fact that the prosecutor’s office accepted them is, in itself, a problem.”
Emphasizing that none of the witnesses heard in court knew him, Akdeniz said, “Not a single witness said, ‘I know him’; on the contrary, everyone said, ‘I don’t know him.’ I do not know any of them either. But what happened? Despite this, I remained in prison for eight months.”
Stating that the travel ban imposed on him remains in place, Akdeniz said this situation directly affects his journalistic activities. Recalling that he works in the field of migration, Akdeniz said, “I need to conduct comparative field research, but I have a travel ban. My area of movement is restricted. My lawyers now say that this process has turned into not a trial, but a practice of punishment.”
The full episode of the Çetele program with Onur Öncü, featuring Ercüment Akdeniz, can be watched on MLSA TV’s YouTube channel.
