Two separate trials against investigative journalist Barış Pehlivan, initiated after complaints by Boğaziçi University Rector Mehmet Naci İnci and Court of Cassation member Yüksel Kocaman, were each postponed to Sept. 17 due to a change in the presiding judge. The hearings, held back-to-back on Jan. 6 at Istanbul’s 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, lasted a total of just 10 minutes.
MLSA - The new judge, recently assigned to the cases, requested additional time to review the files. Pehlivan did not attend either hearing.
The first session concerned charges of “publicly insulting a public official due to their duty,” brought by Rector İnci over a column Pehlivan wrote. It marked the fourth hearing in this case. Attending the session were Pehlivan’s lawyer Enes Hikmet Ermaner and İnci’s lawyer Feyzanur Türksal Köse.
Köse reiterated that her client’s complaint stands and requested Pehlivan’s conviction. She also argued that a document related to a disciplinary investigation by Turkey’s Council of Higher Education (YÖK) concerning Prof. Dr. Tuna Tuğcu — mentioned in the article — did not support Pehlivan’s defense.
In response, Ermaner stated that the case file already includes both YÖK’s reply and a ruling from the Court of Cassation (Danıştay) overturning the disciplinary penalty against Tuğcu. He requested that Tuğcu be heard as a witness.
Immediately afterward, the fourth hearing of a second trial — filed by Yüksel Kocaman, former Chief Public Prosecutor of Ankara and current member of the Court of Cassation — took place. Pehlivan faces charges of “slander” and “publicly insulting a public official due to their duty” in this case, as well.
Only Pehlivan’s lawyer, Ermaner, attended the hearing, as the complainant’s legal counsel submitted an excuse. Ermaner requested that Ali İhsan Akdoğan and Burhan Tezcan, both mentioned in the article, be called as witnesses.
Each hearing lasted approximately five minutes. The judge stated that due to the change in judicial personnel, the case files were still under review and that witness requests would be considered between sessions. The court set new hearing dates for Sept. 17 — 12:00 p.m. for the İnci case, and 12:10 p.m. for the Kocaman case.
Observers noted the physical conditions of the courtroom, with numerous case files stacked in sacks in front of the public seating area.
Background on the cases
Barış Pehlivan is being prosecuted over a column titled “So you’re the one defending confidential information,” published in the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet on Dec. 29, 2023. The article alleged that personal data belonging to students, academics, and staff at Istanbul’s Boğaziçi University had been shared with a private company.
Pehlivan is also on trial over a separate column published on Sept. 22, 2023, titled “I’m naming the killers,” which cited allegations about Yüksel Kocaman’s tenure as Chief Public Prosecutor in Ankara. The article raised claims regarding interference in several criminal cases.
