Journalist Faces Charges Over Report on CHP Event Extras

Journalist Ebru Çelik faces a criminal complaint following her report alleging that paid extras were brought in via a casting agency to a Republican People's Party (CHP) membership event. The event was attended by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was appointed head of the party by court order, and Gürsel Tekin, who was subsequently appointed as a trustee to the CHP Istanbul Provincial Directorate.

Tekin filed the complaint with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, naming Çelik, Web Publishing Coordinators Uğur Koç and Berkant Gültekin as "suspects." The complaint asserts that the news report was "untrue, false, and defamatory," claiming the CHP does not work with casting agencies for its events and that party officials were not consulted before publication.

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The news report was untrue, false, and defamatory.

The complaint invokes articles of the Turkish Penal Code related to "insult" (Article 125), "dissemination of misleading information to the public" (commonly known as the "disinformation law," Article 217/A), and "defamation" (Article 267). It requests an investigation into the journalists based on these charges.

In response, DİSK Basın-İş, a press workers' union, issued a statement of support for Ebru Çelik. The union condemned the targeting of journalists for performing their professional duties, emphasizing that such actions are unacceptable and affirming their solidarity with Çelik.

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Targeting journalists for doing their jobs is unacceptable.