Journalist Alican Uludağ asked the court to determine whether a social media post he made on Sept. 23, 2025, had been denied by Turkey’s Directorate of Communications, clarify which posts were the subject of the complainant’s lawyer’s complaint, and return his confiscated cellphone.
The court adjourned the case until Dec. 22 for the preparation of the prosecutor’s final opinion on the merits.
Büşra Genel
At the hearing before the Ankara 57th Criminal Court of First Instance, journalist Alican Uludağ asked the court, in addition to his defense statement, to determine whether the Center for Countering Disinformation, which operates under Turkey’s Directorate of Communications, had issued any public statement concerning a tweet he posted on Sept. 23, 2025, that is cited in the indictment.
The presiding judge granted Uludağ’s request and ordered the case file to be submitted for the preparation of the prosecutor’s final opinion on the merits. The next hearing was scheduled for 2 p.m. on Dec. 22, 2026.
The hearing was the second in the trial of Uludağ, who spent three months in pretrial detention and faces three separate charges listed in the indictment. The case stems from posts on the social media account he uses to share his news reports.
Uludağ is charged with “insulting the president” under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code, “publicly disseminating misleading information” under Article 217/A and “publicly degrading judicial bodies” under Article 301.
At the second hearing, Uludağ made three requests to the court in addition to presenting his defense statement.
Uludağ said that in a Sept. 23, 2025, social media post cited in the indictment, titled “black propaganda between the palace and the judiciary,” one of the parties he referred to was the Center for Countering Disinformation, which operates under Turkey’s Directorate of Communications. He asked the court to determine whether the Directorate of Communications had issued any public statement on the matter and whether his post had been denied.
Uludağ also said he had made 13 posts addressing the president and noted that the complainant’s lawyer had not specified in the petition which of those posts were the subject of the complaint. He asked for this to be clarified. Uludağ also requested the return of his cellphone, which was confiscated when he was detained.
Defense lawyer Abbas Yalçın said he agreed with his client’s statements and asked the court to seek answers to the issues raised. Yalçın reiterated the request for the phone to be returned, saying it had been confiscated even though there was nothing in the case file concerning the device.
Lawyer Şeymanur Karakaya, representing the complainant, reiterated her previous statements and requested that her client be admitted to the proceedings as a complainant.
The presiding judge said an expert report concerning the social media posts cited in the indictment had been submitted to the court and granted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s request to participate in the case as a complainant.
At the prosecutor’s request, the court adjourned the case until 2 p.m. on Dec. 22 for the preparation of the prosecutor’s final opinion on the merits.
About the case:
Journalist Alican Uludağ was arrested on Feb. 20 over his social media posts. In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that Uludağ had committed the offenses successively and sought a prison sentence of up to 19 years.
The indictment charged Uludağ over his social media posts with “insulting the president” under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code, “publicly disseminating misleading information” under Article 217/A and “publicly degrading judicial bodies” under Article 301.
Uludağ was released pending trial at the first hearing, held at the Ankara 26th Criminal Court of First Instance on May 21, 2026.
