Author: Serdar Imren

The Turkish government’s relentless campaign to crush dissent has officially entered a new, sweeping phase, with the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issuing detention warrants in a massive, years-long investigation targeting activist social media accounts. This is not a targeted operation against a specific threat; it is a digital witch hunt designed to intimidate and silence any citizen who dares to organize, protest, or even question the state’s narrative online. The scope of the investigation reveals the regime’s deep-seated paranoia. The dragnet encompasses everything from criticism of Turkey’s military offensive in Afrin, Syria, to posts about workers’ rights demonstrations. Most…

In Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey, even the notes of a piano can be deemed an act of rebellion. The arrest of Dengin Ceyhan, a talented young pianist and university conservatory teacher, for allegedly “insulting the president” on social media is the latest, poignant proof that the regime’s war on free thought knows no bounds. When artists are silenced, it is not just an individual who is arrested; it is the soul and conscience of a nation that is being imprisoned. Ceyhan’s “crime” was not one of violence or conspiracy. His true offense was his history of dissent. He was a…

Having successfully suffocated most of its domestic independent media, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government is now systematically exporting its war on truth, turning its sights on the last remaining window for the world to see into Turkey: the foreign press. The weapon of choice is no longer just the courts, but the seemingly mundane press accreditation card, which has been transformed from a bureaucratic formality into a political leash. For international correspondents based in Turkey, the rules of the game have been dangerously rewritten. The process for renewing or obtaining press credentials has become a gauntlet of intimidation, with authorities openly…

In the wake of the failed 2016 coup, a palpable sense of fear has enveloped President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s administration. While a robust response to the plotters is expected, the government’s subsequent actions suggest a deeper, more alarming strategy: the creation of parallel security structures loyal not to the state, but to one man. This path, critics warn, is dangerously paving the way for potential civil conflict. The paranoia within the presidential palace has reached extreme levels. One of Erdoğan’s chief advisors, Yiğit Bulut, publicly accused foreign chefs featured on Turkish television of being spies, claiming their culinary tours of…

A government that leads the world in jailing journalists has drafted a law that could grant amnesty to thousands of convicted child sexual abusers. The proposal by Turkey’s ruling party would free men from prison on the condition that they marry their underaged victims, sparking a nationwide outcry and forcing lawmakers to temporarily shelve the plan. The controversial legislation, debated in the Turkish Parliament, aimed to defer sentences for sexual abuse crimes committed before November 16, 2016, if the perpetrator married the victim. If passed, the law would have immediately released approximately 3,000 men from prison, effectively legitimizing acts of…

A harrowing scene captured on video in Manisa has exposed the grim reality festering within Turkey’s detention centers, confirming the worst fears of human rights advocates. While being forced into a police vehicle after a medical checkup, an arrested man turned to his relatives and screamed a desperate plea that pierces the government’s wall of denial: “Political [prisoners] are being subjected to torture!” This is not a mere allegation; it is a cry for help from a citizen in the state’s custody, and it serves as stark, living proof of a rapidly deteriorating human rights crisis. This incident gives a…

For years, any Turk who dared to criticize the government online has faced a predictable onslaught: a coordinated swarm of anonymous accounts, trolls, and bots flooding their mentions with insults, threats, and disinformation. The government has always maintained that this is the organic voice of a supportive populace. But now, a massive email leak from the heart of the ruling family proves what has long been suspected: this is no grassroots movement. It is a state-sponsored, meticulously planned, and centrally commanded digital army, designed to manufacture consent and wage psychological warfare on its own citizens. The revelation comes from the…

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent declaration that the Topçu Barracks “will be built” in Gezi Park is far more than an urban planning announcement. It is a calculated and defiant challenge, a declaration of war on the collective memory of the Turkish people and a vow to pave over the most powerful symbol of civic resistance in the nation’s recent history. By stating, “We need to be brave,” Erdoğan is not talking about construction; he is signaling his intent to crush the spirit of Gezi once and for all. To understand the gravity of this statement, one must remember what…

In a staggering display of the Turkish state’s assault on free expression, a 62-year-old woman has been sentenced to nearly a year in prison. Her crime was not one of violence or slander, but of political satire: holding a banner that cleverly repurposed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s own loaded language against him. The case represents a new low in the government’s war on dissent, demonstrating how even the most nuanced forms of protest are now met with the full, disproportionate force of the law. The court’s decision sends a clear and chilling message: in Erdoğan’s Turkey, the president is beyond…

“In Turkey, journalists now spend more time in courtrooms than in newsrooms.” A Western diplomat’s bitter observation, shared in confidence, perfectly captures the grim reality of press freedom under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The courthouse corridor has become the forced habitat of Turkish journalism, a place where reporters are not covering the news, but have become the story itself—defendants in a war against truth. This is not hyperbole. The statistics are a testament to a systematic purge: in a single year, 500 journalists were dismissed from their jobs, 70 were physically attacked, and thousands have been prosecuted under a law…