The Artvin Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has indicted journalists Semra Pelek, Eylem Emel Yılmaz, Dicle Baştürk, Metin Yoksu and Yavuz Akengin, translator Melisa Efe and web developer Ozan Cırık for membership of a terrorist organisation over alleged links to the Gülen movement. The case was reported on 9 September by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), whose lawyers represent Pelek and for which she has worked as case coordinator.
The Artvin High Criminal Court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction. The İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court accepted the indictment and set the first hearing for 24 November.
The seven were detained in house raids in İstanbul on 13 June 2025 and, according to MLSA, taken by road to Artvin, about 1,500 km away, on a 25-hour journey. On 16 June, Yılmaz, Baştürk, Akengin and Cırık were remanded in custody, and Pelek and Efe were released under judicial control. Yoksu was remanded on 26 June when he went to the Batman courthouse to give a statement. The Stockholm Center for Freedom reports that all five were released in July 2025. The DİSK Basın-İş union said Yılmaz was given no bed in Artvin prison and slept on a blanket on the floor.
According to the indictment, as reported by MLSA, the investigation began with an open-source inquiry by the Artvin Provincial Gendarmerie Command’s counter-terrorism branch, without instruction from a prosecutor. The gendarmerie later sent its findings to the prosecutor’s office. MLSA notes that under Turkish law, criminal investigations are directed by prosecutors.
The inquiry focused on the Kronos news website, which prosecutors allege is linked to the Gülen movement. The indictment cites reporting, editing, translation and technical work for Kronos as evidence. It also cites a February 2025 report by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) on payments for news reports and translations. The first seven of its 39 pages describe the 2016 coup attempt without linking it to the accused.
Pelek, a journalist for 28 years, told investigators she had translated German press reports for a fee for Selahattin Sevi, a former colleague at Milliyet, and was paid through an association based abroad. MLSA reports that the indictment contains no evidence that she worked for Kronos. It also says the indictment attributes to her a sentence that does not appear in her statement.
Pelek was questioned about phone calls with journalists, lawmakers, press-freedom representatives, lawyers and human rights defenders. They included journalist Hasan Cemal, RSF Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu, forensic expert Şebnem Korur Fincancı and her own lawyer, Hürrem Sönmez.
The indictment also cites a Signal link sent to Pelek by German director Bülent Gençdemir, with whom she made a 2025 documentary series for the public broadcaster ZDF. Prosecutors assert that Gülen movement members use Signal in place of ByLock. For Efe, the indictment cites the Signal app installed on her phone.
At the time of those calls, Sönmez was on trial with İstanbul Bar Association president İbrahim Kaboğlu and other board members over a bar statement about journalists killed in Syria. The İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court acquitted all of them in January 2026.
The seven will be tried by the same court that acquitted the lawyer whose calls with Pelek are cited as evidence against her.
