News Centre
Journalists in the country continue to spend their time in courthouse corridors. Facing investigations for everything they write and share, journalists keep doing their jobs despite all difficulties. Another investigation has been launched against BirGün editor Kayhan Ayhan. This time, Ayhan gave a statement in an investigation initiated by the Press Crimes Investigation Bureau of the İstanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for reporting and sharing on his social media account the student protests that began after İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained on 19 March.
I DID JOURNALISM
Giving his statement at the Anadolu Courthouse with his lawyer Tolgay Güvercin, Ayhan said “I am a journalist. As part of my duty to inform the public and in the scope of the public’s right to receive news, I reported and shared the student protests in question. I shared these contents for news purposes.” Ayhan had previously faced investigations over his news reports and social media posts published in BirGün and Cumhuriyet newspapers.
INVESTIGATION UPON INVESTIGATION
Ayhan had also recently faced an investigation over a report published in BirGün newspaper on 2 December 2023 titled “2.5 Hours of Violence Against Peasants”.
Ayhan had previously given a statement in another investigation launched against him for “Publicly Spreading Misleading Information” after sharing claims of “irregularities” in the 14 May elections.
While working at Cumhuriyet newspaper, Ayhan was also sued for damages four years after his report dated 30 December 2020 titled “Soldier Who Deserted to Obtain a Battery Report Deserted Again After Pressure”.
