Indictment against journalist Zeynep Kuray accepted

Journalist Zeynep Kuray is facing another trial in Turkey. The Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office accused her of propaganda for organizations close to the PKK in connection with her journalistic work.

Journalist Zeynep Kuray is facing another trial in Turkey. The Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office accused her of making propaganda for an illegal organization. The indictment lists her posts in social media and her journalistic work as evidence. The journalist is accused of making propaganda for organizations close to the PKK on Facebook, Twitter/X and YouTube from 2014 onwards.

The alleged evidence includes photos of YPG and YPJ fighters taken during a report in Kobanê in February 2014. Reports shared on social media about a YPG press release and memorials for Ulaş Bayraktaroğlu and Ibrahim Kaypakkaya as well as about protests in Istanbul against the Turkish army's use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish guerrillas are also considered criminal offenses.

The indictment also included photos of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, the three Kurdish women who were murdered by the Turkish Secret Service in Paris in 2013.

The Prosecutor's Office accused Zeynep Kuray of insulting the Turkish army with her contributions and of supporting the armed struggle of the PKK and other organizations. The indictment was accepted by the 26th Chamber of the Istanbul Court for Serious Crimes. The trial will begin on 2 December 2024.

Zeynep Kuray is an internationally award-winning journalist who has been persecuted by the Turkish judiciary for years. She also works for ANF. She has already been in prison, including in connection with the so-called KCK operations. There are currently other trials pending against her that are related to her work as a journalist. One of these proceedings is directed against Kuray's reporting on the resistance to the deforestation of the Akbelen forest in Muğla.