Press release of 23, Juni 2025
Protest against the arrest of Fatih Altayli
PEN Berlin protests against the arrest of Turkish journalist Fatih Altayli. Altayli is one of the country’s best-known journalists and his arrest is a worrying sign of the direction in which Turkey is heading – from autocracy to dictatorship.
The regime has now targeted a journalist who has worked for major media outlets for a long time, as long as critical journalism was still possible. »Altayli’s arrest is not a sign of strength, but of weakness on the part of this regime«, said PEN Berlin spokesperson Deniz Yücel. »And that is precisely why it is feared that President Erdoğan will do absolutely anything to prevent the loss of his power. The specific accusation is, at the very least, laughable. “Threatening” the president. The man who controls the entire state, including the judiciary, is accusing a journalist, who has spent his entire 43-year career with no means other than the power of his words at his disposal, of “threatening” him.«
In the aftermath of the mass protests against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, which were both widespread and unanticipated by the regime, a counterattack by those in power was to be expected. For this reason, and due to the simultaneous collapse of advertising revenue from Google, PEN Berlin launched a fundraising campaign for independent media in Turkey at the end of April, under the slogan »Journalism is not a crime – and not for nothing«. The campaign is supported by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers, the German Journalists’ Association, the German Union of Journalists, the Cultural Forum Turkey-Germany, the Media Association of the Free Press, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the taz Panter Foundation, and the ver.di trade union.
»No one from outside can bring human rights and the rule of law to Turkey; Turkish citizens must fight for this themselves. But we can show solidarity in this campaign, even in a very practical, tangible way«, said Deniz Yücel. »At the same time, we call on Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the federal government not to become accomplices of this criminal regime by following supposed realpolitik considerations.«
PEN Berlin. We stand by our word.