Aziz Oruç
18 June - Journalist Alican Uludağ announced via social media that the investigation against him for reporting on a Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) report, which detailed ISIS’s money transfers through Turkey, has been closed without charges after two years.
Uludağ’s report, which was subjected to an access ban, revealed that ISIS transferred $400,000 from Lebanon for explosive materials through Turkey. The investigation accused him of "obtaining and disclosing state secrets" related to national security. In his statement, Uludağ clarified:
“I obtained the MASAK report from the public court file of the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court, known as the ‘train station case’. The report was provided by a party to the court case, and neither the court records nor the prosecutor’s documents indicated that the material was classified or a state secret. The information in the report does not constitute state secrets. I reject the allegations and assert that I reported the news in connection with my journalistic duties.”
The decision to dismiss the case stated that the MASAK report was already part of a public court file and did not contain information classified as state secrets under legal definitions. The ruling explained:
"The MASAK report in question was submitted to the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court’s file before the publication date, and the suspect reviewed these documents during the public trial. The report’s contents do not meet the criteria for ‘state secrets’ as defined by law. Furthermore, the MASAK complaint and related Article 8/4 of Law 6415 refer to confidentiality during investigative procedures, which differs from the type of secrecy required for the alleged crime. Therefore, the elements of the charged offenses were not present, and there was insufficient evidence to prosecute."
Previous investigations
Uludağ was also called to testify on May 24, 2024, based on a complaint by Serdar Öktem, a detained suspect in the Sinan Ateş murder investigation. Uludağ remarked, "I received a call from the police station. A complaint from Serdar Öktem, a detained lawyer in the Sinan Ateş murder case, has led to a new investigation against me. They are summoning me for a statement. Öktem's complaint nearly exhausts the Turkish Penal Code.”
