- The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) has applied to Turkey’s Constitutional Court over the detention of journalist Sibel Yükler for a 2023 social media post and over what it said was an insufficient amount of compensation awarded to her based on the minimum wage.
- In the application, MLSA argued that Yükler’s rights to liberty and security, freedom of the press and expression, and a fair trial were violated.
The process concerning Yükler’s detention over a post she shared on a social media platform on July 17, 2023, was taken to the Constitutional Court by MLSA, which is representing her. The application states that multiple rights were violated due to the arrest and detention measures as well as the subsequent compensation proceedings.
On July 17, 2023, Yükler reposted a message by journalist Fırat Can Arslan. The post included a decision published in the Official Gazette regarding the reassignment to another city of a judge and prosecutor couple who had been serving in the so-called “Diyarbakır 18 Journalists Trial,” a high-profile case in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern province of Diyarbakır.
Following the repost, Yükler was detained. Her home was raided on July 25, 2023, and her digital materials were seized. She was held in custody for one day and was released on July 26, 2023, after giving her statement. On Jan. 11, 2024, the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office decided not to pursue charges in the investigation.
During the same period, journalist Fırat Can Arslan, who made the original post, was arrested as part of the same investigation. Arslan was later acquitted. In a ruling dated May 13, 2025, the Constitutional Court found that there had been no strong suspicion of a crime to justify Arslan’s arrest and ruled that his right to liberty and security had been violated.
Yükler filed a lawsuit before the Ankara 24th High Criminal Court seeking compensation for damages arising from her arrest, detention, house search and seizure. Yükler and her lawyers requested a total of 200,000 Turkish lira ($—) in compensation, including 100,000 lira in pecuniary and 100,000 lira in non-pecuniary damages.
However, on Sept. 11, 2025, the Ankara 24th High Criminal Court awarded 13,775 lira in pecuniary damages due to her digital materials being held in judicial custody. The court also ruled that she be paid 283.56 lira — equivalent to one day’s minimum wage — for the one day she spent in detention, and 2,000 lira in non-pecuniary damages.
Yükler’s lawyers objected, arguing that calculating detention compensation based on the minimum wage was unlawful, that the awarded amount was low compared to precedent rulings of the Constitutional Court, and that no statutory interest had been granted. Upon appeal, the 26th Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice increased the non-pecuniary damages to 5,000 lira on Jan. 20, 2026, and definitively rejected the other requests.
MLSA subsequently filed an individual application with the Constitutional Court on Yükler’s behalf. The application argues that her right to liberty and security, guaranteed under Article 19 of the Turkish Constitution and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), was violated. It also maintains that her right to a fair trial under Article 36 of the Constitution and Article 6 of the ECHR, as well as her rights to freedom of expression and of the press under Articles 26, 27 and 28 of the Constitution and Article 10 of the ECHR, were infringed.
The applicant further stated that no effective remedy had been provided regarding the alleged violation of freedom of expression and the press, arguing that the right to an effective remedy under Article 40 of the Constitution and Article 13 of the ECHR had also been violated.
MLSA requested that the Constitutional Court determine the violations against Yükler and award both pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages.
