On 27 August, the Istanbul 4th Criminal Court of Peace ordered the seizure of every copy — printed and still on the presses — of “The Nation Is My Witness,” and banned its distribution and sale. The author is Ekrem İmamoğlu, the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul and the opposition’s presidential candidate.
The 400-page book sets out the defence İmamoğlu has been prevented from delivering in court. It was due on shelves on 30 August. His publisher, Kırmızı Kedi, says the print run was seized at the printing house.
The order invokes Articles 3(2) and 25(2) of Turkey’s Press Law. The notice served on the publisher named no offence and identified no passage. A text no one outside the printing house has read has been suppressed without a stated reason.
Prior restraint of this kind is among the gravest interferences with freedom of expression under Article 10 ECHR, and Turkey remains bound by the Convention. Turkish journalists’ and publishers’ associations — TGC, TGS, TÜRKYAYBİR, TYS and PEN — have called the measure an attack on publishing itself and on the public’s right to information.
Sources:
https://turkishminute.com/2026/08/29/turkey-seizes-jailed-erdogan-rivals-book-bans-sales/
https://x.com/eczozgurozel/status/2093409007658541461?s=20
https://x.com/ekrem_imamoglu/status/2093378107994427450?s=20
Legal background
In Observer and Guardian v. the United Kingdom (app. no. 13585/88, judgment of 26 November 1991, §60), the European Court of Human Rights considered UK injunctions blocking newspapers from publishing extracts of the book Spycatcher.
The Court held that Article 10 ECHR does not prohibit prior restraints outright — but that the dangers inherent in them “call for the most careful scrutiny on the part of the Court.”
That scrutiny requires the state to show a pressing social need, reasons that are relevant and sufficient, and proportionality to a legitimate aim. In this case the Istanbul court named no offence and identified no passage. Nothing has been offered that could be scrutinised at all.
Turkey has been bound by the Convention since 1954 and has recognised the Court’s jurisdiction since 1990.
