- An indictment has been filed against journalist Tuğba Tekerek, who had only one news report on Georgia’s elections published by Kaos GL, along with 16 members of the organization’s executive and supervisory boards.
- Prosecutors have presented no concrete digital evidence linking Tekerek to the management of the organization’s Instagram account. Despite acknowledging that a digital forensic examination report had not yet been completed, prosecutors accused Tekerek of being an “Instagram account administrator.”
- In her statement to prosecutors, Tekerek denied having any ties to the organization, saying that only one of the thousands of news reports she had produced throughout her journalism career had been published by Kaos GL. Prosecutors also cited that report, which covered elections in Georgia, as grounds for an obscenity charge.
Turkish prosecutors have filed an indictment against 17 people as part of an investigation into LGBTQ+ rights organization Kaos GL, including journalist Tuğba Tekerek, who is accused of managing the organization's Instagram account despite the absence of concrete digital evidence linking her to it.
Tekerek, who is represented by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), has been held at Ankara's Sincan Prison since Sept. 15, 2026.
The indictment, prepared on Oct. 28, 2026, by the Cybercrime Bureau of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, stems from an investigation into Kaos GL conducted as part of operations dubbed "My Family Is Safe." Prosecutors allege that content published on the organization's website and social media accounts was "accessible to children" and constituted the crime of "obscenity."
Prosecutors accused the suspects of violating Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes obscenity, and Article 30/b of the Associations Law, which prohibits establishing associations for purposes explicitly banned by the Constitution and other laws or to carry out activities constituting criminal offenses.
Under Article 32/p of the Associations Law, prosecutors sought prison sentences of one to three years and judicial fines for the suspects.
Tekerek: "I am not the administrator of Kaos GL's Instagram account"
The indictment alleges that Tekerek was an "authorized administrator of Kaos GL's Instagram account," citing findings by the police Cybercrime Branch.
In her statement to prosecutors, Tekerek denied having any connection to or membership in Kaos GL. She said she knew of the organization through her work as a journalist but was unfamiliar with its Instagram account and had never administered it.
Tekerek said she had worked as a journalist for national and international media outlets since 2006 and currently produced news reports for Açık Radyo, Deutsche Welle Turkish and T24.
She explained that her only connection to Kaos GL was a single news report published as part of her journalistic work.
Tekerek said she traveled to Georgia in 2024 with an international group of journalists to cover the country's elections. During the visit, she interviewed a representative of a civil society organization working on LGBTQ+ rights and subsequently submitted a news report based on the interview to Kaos GL.
She confirmed that the news report shown to her during questioning was her work and said she had submitted it to Kaos GL in exchange for a freelance fee.
However, she emphasized that the image accompanying the published report was not hers and that she had no knowledge of the headline or image used when the report was shared on social media.
"I submitted my article solely for publication on the website called Kaos GL," Tekerek said in her statement. "We have no knowledge of what headline or image would be used on social media, or which parts of the text would be published. Those decisions may be made by the editors."
Tekerek also said she was seeing other images presented to her during questioning for the first time and had no connection to the content.
She stressed that thousands of her news reports had appeared in various media outlets throughout her journalism career, but only one had been published by Kaos GL.
News report on Georgia's elections cited as grounds for charges
The indictment identifies 10 social media posts published by Kaos GL as grounds for the obscenity allegations. Prosecutors classified photographs, artworks and illustrations appearing in some of the posts as obscene material.
Among the content cited was Tekerek's news report titled "I feel like the lead actor in a dystopian movie," written during Georgia's 2024 elections.
The report examined how Georgia's ruling party targeted LGBTQ+ rights advocates during its election campaign and the impact of the country's "transparency of foreign influence" law on civil society organizations.
According to the indictment, when Tekerek's report was shared on Kaos GL's social media account, it was accompanied by an illustration depicting two men wearing traditional Georgian clothing embracing and kissing.
Digital forensic examination remains incomplete
One of the notable aspects of the indictment concerns the forensic examination of digital materials belonging to the suspects.
Prosecutors acknowledged that instructions had been issued to create forensic copies of the suspects' digital materials and prepare digital forensic reports. However, they said they had received no notification that those procedures had been completed by the time the indictment was prepared.
The prosecution noted that the reports would be submitted to the case file once completed.
Despite the absence of the completed forensic reports, prosecutors alleged that the suspects were "connected to posts on the organization's social media accounts and website" and had acted with "unity of intent and action," seeking criminal penalties against them.
The indictment also cited a technical examination report by the police Cybercrime Branch, which allegedly established that some suspects had accessed the administrative dashboards of the organization's official social media accounts and website.
However, the sections of the indictment made available did not disclose any concrete digital forensic findings demonstrating that Tekerek had accessed those administrative panels.
First hearing set for Dec. 24
Ankara's 27th Criminal Court of First Instance has accepted the indictment against Tuğba Tekerek and ordered her continued detention, citing the nature and severity of the alleged offense and the state of the evidence.
The court scheduled the first hearing for Dec. 24, 2026, at 11 a.m.
