List of journalists killed in Turkey

Following the killing of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul on 19 January 2007 various lists of journalists killed in Turkey since the early 20th century were published. One such list was published by the Turkish Association of Journalists (tr: Türkiye Gazteciler Cemiyeti). It contains 64 names of journalists killed between 1909 and 2009.[1] A "Platform of imprisoned journalists" published a list in April 2012 that contained 112 names.[2] Yet, it is difficult to obtain detailed information in particular on early cases, in order to determine whether the deaths had been assassinations directly linked to the profession of the victims.

It also appears that some people were not journalists by profession, but affiliated to certain publications as readers, vendors or even part-time publishers of political comments. These people will not be included in the lists, apart from people who were killed because they distributed certain publications.

In some cases, the state has been seen guilty for assassinating Kurdish journalists.

The early years

For the years up to the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 little is known about the journalists named in the lists. They may have been killed or become victims of enforced disappearance, several of them during the Armenian Genocide. Only few of the journalists that were killed in Turkey until 1923 have a separate page, where you can find additional information. The 40 journalists that allegedly died as a result of violent attacks are:

Name	Publication	Place	Date	Remarks
Hasan Fehmi	Serbesti	İstanbul	6 April 1909	opposed the Committee of Union and Progress[3]
Ahmet Samim	Sada-yı Millet	İstanbul	9 June 1910
Zeki Bey	Şehrah	İstanbul	10 July 1911
Hüseyin Kami	Alemdar	Konya	1912
Silahçı Tahsin	Silah	İstanbul	27 July 1914
Kevork Ferid	Tasvir’i Efkar		April 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Hovhannes Kazancıyan	Journalist-writer		April 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Krikor Torosyan	Dizağik		April 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Sarkis Minassian	Azadamard	Ayaş	5 May 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Sarkis Süngücüyan	İravunk		1 June 1915	fate not known[4]
Nerses Papazyan	Azadamard	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Harutün Şahrigyan	Azadamard	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Garabed Paşayan Khan	writer	Ayaş	1915	allegedly tortured then killed[4]
Levon Larents	Tsayn Hayrenyats	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Smpad Piurad	Pünig	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Hampartsum Hampartsumyan	Azadamard	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Keğam Parseğyan	Azadamard	Ankara	1915	he was killed in Ayaş, close to Ankara[4]
Şavarş Krisyan	Marmnamarz	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Adom Yarcanyan	Azadamard	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Armen Doryan	writer	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Sarkis Parseğyan	Aşkhadank	Ankara	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Yervant Srmakeşhanlıyan	Journalist-writer	Harput	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Hovhannes Hanıtyunyan	Journalist-writer	Harput 1915	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Gagik Ozanyan	Merzifon Halguni	Sivas	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Mardiros H. Kundakçıyan	Ceride-i Şarkiye	Kayseri	1915	executed[4]
Onnig Tertsagyan	Azadamard	Van	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Dikran Odyan	Yergir		1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Karekin Khajag	writer	Diyarbakır	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Rupen Zartaryan	Azadamard	Diyarbakır	May 1915	murdered before arrival in Diyarbakır[4]
Karakin Gozikyan	Manzume	Trabzon	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Khaçadur Malumyan	Azadamard	Diyarbakır	1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Krikor Zohrab	Journalist-writer	Urfa	15 July 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide in May 1915[4]
Mihran Tabakyan	writer	Yozgat	August 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Hagop Terzian	Journalist-writer	Yozgat	24 August 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Diran Kelegyan	Sabah	Çankırı	26 August 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Taniel Varujan	writer-poet	Çankırı	26 August 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Rupen Sevag	Çilingiryan	Çankırı	26 August 1915	murdered during the Armenian Genocide[4]
Hasan Tahsin	Hukuk-u Beşer	İzmir	15 May 1919
Hüseyin Hilmi	İştirak	İstanbul	15 November 1922
Ali Kemal	Peyam-ı Sabah	İzmit	1922

Killings until September 1980

Only few cases of journalists killed in Turkey between the foundation of the Republic and the military coup of 12 September 1980 were listed. Yet, some of these killings were high-profile assassinations that contributed to the atmosphere of political violence (often termed "civil war") that the Turkish army used as the main reason for its intervention. A bit more information is available on some of the 15 cases reported for this period:

Name	Publication	Place	Date	Remarks
Hikmet Şevket			1930
Sabahattin Ali	Marko Paşa	Edirne	2 April 1948	listed under writers
Aziz Korkmaz	Hürriyet	Silvan	19 October 1975	As chief of the Diyarbakır office of Hürriyet he had reported on a clash between a Kurdish tribe and soldiers of the gendarmerie. The following day he allegedly died in an accident, but his corpse was found 150 metres away from the car and all his equipment and material had gone. The Turkish deep state is believed to be behind his murder.[5][6]
Adem Yavuz	Anka News Agency	Cyprus	27 August 1974	see tr:Adem Yavuz
Hüseyin Şen	KAWA	Istanbul	21 March 1978	He was the editor-in-chief of the journal and member of a Kurdish newspaper. He was allegedly tortured and killed in Selimiye (Istanbul) military prison.[7]
Gani Bozarslan	Aydınlık		10 May 1978	Translated books from Kurdish to Turkish
Ali İhsan Özgür	Politika	Istanbul	21 November 1978	Politika was first issued by DİSK and later by the TKP. Ali İhsan Özgür disappeared so that the family had difficulties in identifying him.[8]
Cengiz Polatkan	Hafta Sonu	Ankara	1 December 1978
Abdi İpekçi	Milliyet	İstanbul	1 February 1979	two members of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, Oral Çelik and Mehmet Ali Ağca (who later shot pope John Paul II), murdered Abdi İpekçi in his car on the way back home from his office in front of his apartment building in Istanbul.[9] Ağca was caught due to an informant and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months in a military prison in Istanbul, Ağca escaped with the help of military officer.
İlhan Darendelioğlu	Ortadoğu	Istanbul	19 November 1979	member of the MHP, see tr:İlhan Egemen Darendelioğlu
İsmail Gerçeksöz	Ortadoğu	Istanbul	4 April 1980	has also published books[10]
Hayrabet Honca	Halkın Birliği	Kayseri	1 May 1980	member of TKP/ML, killed by right-wingers[11]
Ümit Kaftancıoğlu	TRT	İstanbul	11 April 1980	right-wing Ahmet Mustafa Kıvılcım stated in his interrogation by the police that he killed Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, because he was a "leftist", but later rejected the statement. He remained four months in pre-trial detention and was released. The assailants were not found.[12]
Muzaffer Fevzioğlu	Hizmet	Trabzon	15 April 1980
Recai Ünal	Demokrat	Istanbul	22 July 1980	allegedly kidnapped and tortured[13]

Killings in the 1980s and 1990s with laicist journalists as targets

see also List of assassinated people from Turkey that was previously called Laicist Turks who are murdered

After the military coup of 1980 fewer journalists were killed in the fight between the radical left and the extreme right. After the end of the 1980s there have been several killings of journalists known for their anti-government attitude and secular (in Turkey also termed laicist). In some cases members of radical Islamic organizations have been prosecuted and condemned for these killings. In one case a militant of the PKK allegedly confessed to such a killing. Other killings in the 1980s and 1990s include:

Name	Publication	Place	Date	Remarks
Mevlüt Işıt	Türkiye	Ankara	1 June 1988
Kamil Başaran	Gazete	İstanbul	28 February 1989	He was shot by the owner of a restaurant, who did not like his way of reporting.[6]
Seracettin Müftüoğlu	Hürriyet	Nusaybin	29 June 1989
Sami Başaran	Gazete	İstanbul	7 November 1989	He had an interview with the leader of a Kurdish tribe from Mardin in his office in Aksaray (Istanbul). He was shot there at the age of 25.[6]
Çetin Emeç	Hürriyet	İstanbul	7 March 1990	Two people entered his car and shot him and his driver Sinan Ercan.[6] For this killing four members of the Islamic Movement Organization (tr: İslami Hareket Örgütü were sentenced to life imprisonment, but his brother does not believe that the true killers were caught.[14]
Turan Dursun	2000'e Doğru	İstanbul	4 September 1990	For this killing a member of the Islamic Movement Organization (tr: İslami Hareket Örgütü was sentenced to life imprisonment, but the person believed to be his killer, is still on the run.[14]
Uğur Mumcu	Cumhuriyet	Ankara	24 January 1993	While different hypothesis exist on who was behind the killing the prosecutor's office in Ankara maintains that two assassins were sentenced and a case opened against the third suspect had been opened, all three of them being members of the Tawhid-Salaam Jerusalem Organization (tr: Tevhid-Selam Kudüs) that allegedly was behind the murder.[15]
Onat Kutlar	Cumhuriyet	İstanbul	11 January 1995	The brother of the archaeologist Yasemin Cebenoyan, who had died in the same bomb attack, complained that many people thought the murder had not been solved or that an Islamic organization was behind it. He had been convicted in 2005, but as a confessor he had been released after 9.5 years' imprisonment.[16]
Ahmet Taner Kışlalı	Cumhuriyet	Ankara	21 October 1999	His death as well as the killings of Uğur Mumcu, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Prof. Dr. Muammer Aksoy and Assistant Professor Dr. Bahriye Üçok were the subject of a trial at Ankara Heavy Penal Court 11 known as the Umut (Hope) case. The court ruled that the defendants had formed an illegal organization by the name of "Kudüs Ordusu" (Jerusalem Army) and "Tevhid Selam" (Tawhid-Salaam) and had committed violent acts in Turkey. On 28 July 2005 one defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment, while seven others received sentences as leaders or members of an illegal organization.[17] The Court of Cassation confirmed the sentence of the main suspect on 11 November 2006.[18]

Journalists and vendors killed in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict

In the 1990s the Kurdish-Turkish conflict became harsher with a large number of casualties on both sides. At the same time more and more civilians fell victim to extrajudicial killings, murders by unknown assailants (tr: faili meçhul), a term used in Turkish to indicate that the perpetrators were not identified because of them being protected by the State and cases of disappearance. Soon after the pro-Kurdish press had started to publish the first daily newspaper by the name of "Özgür Gündem" (Free Agenda) killings of Kurdish journalists started. In many cases, the state was blamed for murders and in some cases the Turkish variety of the radical Islamic organization Hizbullah was made responsible for the killings, in others the PKK was accused, but the majority remained without a clear indication to the persons behind the fatal attacks. Hardly any of them has been clarified or resulted in sanctions for the assailants. Among the 33 journalists that were killed in the first half of the 1990s are also cases not related to the Kurdish conflict. In 2008, the European Court of Human Right condemned Turkey for executing and assassinating Kurdish journalists and writers. Musa Anter, a prominent Kurdish writer, was killed by the state in 1992.[19]

Among Kurdish patriots (tr: yurtsever, often used as an acronym for sympathizers of the PKK by the state) the "tradition" that started with Özgür Gündem is often called "history of the free press". In this context the figure of 76 victims (called martyrs of the press; tr: basın şehitleri) is often mentioned.[20] While the lists compiled under such headings contain 73 names[21] it has to be said that they include names of journalists and distributors that were killed by the Turkish state, Turkish JITEM and under tragic circumstances(e.g. in a traffic accident). In 2008, the ECHR has condemned Turkey for assassinating Musa Anter who was working for Özgur Gundem.[19]

Yet, the number of staff members of the "free press" and volunteers to distribute dailies and weeklies termed "Kurdish free press" that were killed "on duty", particularly during the early stages of reporting on the Kurdish question in Turkey remains high. The list of names of distributors of Özgür Gündem and its successors that were killed (while the perpetrators mostly remained unknown) includes 18 names. Among the 33 journalists that were killed between 1990 and 1995 most were working for the so-called Kurdish Free Press.

Name	Publication	Place	Date	Remarks
Gündüz Etil	Yeni Günaydın	İstanbul	18 September 1991
Halit Güngen	2000'e Doğru	Diyarbakır	18 February 1992	He was killed by unidentified murderers two days after reporting that eyewitnesses and sympathizers of Turkish Hezbollah had said that members of the organization were educated in the headquarters of Turkey's rapid deployment force (Çevik Kuvvet) in Diyarbakır.[22]
Cengiz Altun	Yeni Ülke	Batman	25 February 1992	aged 24, he was killed by six bullets fired into his back as he was on his way to work.[23]
İzzet Kezer	Sabah	Cizre	23 March 1992	a journalist for the mainstream daily, Sabah; shot and killed by security forces in Cizre during violence that followed the celebration of the Kurdish New Year. During a state-imposed curfew, Kezer and other journalists emerged from their hotel waving white flags. No shooting was going on at the time. Kezer, at the head of the group, reached an intersection and was shot dead by security forces who fired from an armored personnel carrier. No action has been taken against the security forces responsible for his death.[23]
Bülent Ülkü	Körfeze Bakış	Bursa	1 April 1992	aged 26, he was found wounded near Uludağ on 1 April and died shortly afterwards. The autopsy certified marks of handcuffs and ink on his fingers.[24] Officials claimed that he was the victims of an internal dispute between left-wing organizations, but friends deny such a possibility.[25]
Mecit Akgün	2000e Doğru	Nusaybin	2 June 1992	His body was found hanging from a telephone pole near the village of Colova in Nusaybin. It was claimed that a statement was found on his body saying that he was "punished because he was a traitor", this was allegedly signed by the PKK.[23]
Hafız Akdemir	Özgür Gündem	Diyarbakır	8 June 1992	Killed by a single bullet shot into the back of his head, fifty meters from his home in Diyarbakir. Ozgur Gundem began publication on 30 May 1992; reporters stated that they had received telephoned threats for several days, several addressed to Akdemir. He had written about the Islamic organization Hezbollah and Turkish counterguerrillas.[26][23]
Çetin Ababay	Özgür Halk	Batman	29 July 1992	he was shot in the head by three unidentified men while on his way home in Batman.[23]
Yahya Orhan	Özgür Gündem	Gercüş	31 July 1992	aged 30, he was shot and killed by unknown assailants. Ozgur Gundem reported that Mr. Orhan had been stopped on the street and threatened.[23]
Hüseyin Deniz	Özgür Gündem	Ceylanpınar	9 August 1992	aged 36, he was critically wounded by one bullet fired into his neck. Mr. Deniz was also the regional correspondent for the daily, Cumhuriyet.[23]
Musa Anter	Özgür Gündem	Diyarbakır	20 September 1992	aged 74, Mr. Anter had written for Ozgur Gundem and Yeni Ulke, as well as for the Kurdish newspaper, Welat. He was also the chairman of the board of the Mesopotamian Cultural Center in Istanbul. Mr. Anter was reportedly lured from his hotel on false pretenses and shot in the outskirts of Diyarbakir. A relative accompanying him was shot and wounded at the same time.[23]
Mehmet Sait Erten	Azadi-Denk	Diyarbakır	3 November 1992
Yaşar Aktay	free-lanced	Hani	9 November 1992	During the violent incidents in Hani district, he was reportedly killed during clashes between the PKK militants and government forces.[24]
Hatip Kapçak	Serbest/Hürriyet	Mazıdağı	18 November 1992	the Mardin reporter for a local newspaper, Soz, and for the weekly journal, Gercek (Fact), was killed in an armed attack in the Mazidagi district of Mardin on 18 November. Mr. Kapcak had been researching and reporting on the activities of the Turkish Hezbollah organization, which allegedly has ties to security forces. Mr. Kapcak had served six years in prison on political charges following the 1980 military coup. After his release, he wrote for the mainstream daily, Gunes, and then for the daily, Hurriyet.[23]
Namık Tarancı	Gerçek	Diyarbakır	20 November 1992	aged 37, he was shot and killed on his way to work. He reportedly received three bullets in his head after an attack by two assailants and died on the spot.[23]
Kemal Kılıç	Yeni Ülke	Şanlıurfa	18 February 1993	aged 29, he was shot dead with two bullets in the head by four assailants. Mr. Kilic had been writing for the newspaper Yeni Ulke since the suspension of publication of Ozgur Gundem in January. Mr. Kilic was also a member of the board of the Urfa Branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association. Mehmet Senol, the Diyarbakir representative for Ozgur Gundem, reported that Mr. Kilic had applied for a gun license, but that his application had been rejected.[23] He was shot and killed by unknown assailants in Kulunce Village, near the city of Urfa. Police had questioned him about a news release he had published on the difficulties distributors had faced in selling the newspaper in Sanli Urfa Province.[27]
Mehmet İhsan Karakuş	Silvan Gazetesi	Silvan	13 March 1993	aged 53, owner of the local newspaper Silvan. He was shot by unknown assailants that could not be identified until the end of 1993.[28]
Ercan Güre	Hürriyet News Agency	Bergama	20 May 1993	or Ercan Gürel, soon after the incident Veysel Özakıncı was detained as his killer and stated that he killed him because of a dispute of the ownership of land.[28]
Ömer Taşar	Milli Gazete	Saraybosna	26 June 1993	killing outside Turkey by fire opened from Serbian positions.[28]
İhsan Uygur	Sabah	İstanbul	6 July 1993
Rıza Güneşer	Halkın Gücü	İstanbul	14 July 1993	he was the owner of the left-wing journal "Halkın Gücü". The murder is believed to have been committed by the "Bedri Yağan group", a split of the Devrimci Sol[28]
Ferhat Tepe	Özgür Gündem	Bitlis	28 July 1993	disappeared when he was reportedly forced to get into a car. Although several teams of police were seen patrolling the streets at the time, they denied any knowledge of the incident. On 8 August a body found in Lake Hazar, near the city of Elazig, was identified as being Tepe's.[29] On 9 May 2003 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the material in the case file does not enable it to conclude beyond all reasonable doubt that the applicant’s son was abducted and killed by any State agent or person acting on behalf of the State authorities.[30]
Muzaffer Akkuş	Milliyet	Bingöl	20 September 1993	Aged 34, was killed by unknown assailants.[31][28]
Ruhi Can Tul	TDN[32]	Kırıkkale	14 January 1994	aged 29, Ruhican Tul died when a bomb exploded in a bus going from Ankara to Samsun. Three people were killed. The PKK allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack.[33]
Nazım Babaoğlu	Gündem	Siverek	12 March 1994	he is presumed dead after disappearing in Siverek, a small town near Urfa. He had traveled there to follow up on a news tip from a colleague, who later denied phoning him.[34]
Kamil Koşapınar	Zaman	Erzurum	19 March 1994	according to the newspaper he worked for, Kâmil Koşapınar was killed by a stray bullet at a photo shop.[35]
İsmail Ağay	Özgür Ülke	Batman	29 May 1994	surname might be Ağaya; according to the Bar Association in Batman such a person is "missing" since December 1994.[36]
Erol Akgün	Devrimci Çözüm	Gebze	8 September 1994	editor-in-chief of the left-wing weekly Devrimci Cozum, was killed by unidentified assailants as he left his home in Gebze, near Istanbul. His colleagues at the paper believe a rival left-wing faction killed him because he was the weekly's editor.[37]
Bahri Işık	Çağdaş Marmara	İstanbul	17 September 1994
Ersin Yıldız	Özgür Ülke	İstanbul	3 December 1994	aged 30, he died when the offices of his paper in Istanbul were destroyed by a bomb, planted by unidentified persons, 19 staff members were wounded.[33]
Bekir Kutmangil	Yeni Günaydın	İstanbul	23 May 1995	he was the owner of the local newspaper, but reportedly he was involved in affairs of organized crime. A rival was made responsible for the killing.[38]
Nail Aydın	Son Haber	Giresun	28 July 1995
Seyfettin Tepe	Yeni Politika	Bitlis	28 August 1995	also spelled Safyettin Tepe, he was taken into custody on 22 August. Four days later he was moved to the Bitlis Security Directorate. He died in custody on 29 August. His family was told that he committed suicide but rejects that official explanation.[39]

At the same time several people distributing pro-Kurdish newspaper in the region under a state of emergency, were killed, too. The list of names of distributors of Özgür Gündem and its successors that were killed (while the perpetrators mostly remained unknown) includes 18 names:[40]

Name	Date	Place	Remarks
Halil Adanır	21 November 1992	Diyarbakır	taxi driver, aged 32, married with 5 children, he was burned to death in his car while delivering pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgur Gundem. The government is blamed for his death.[23]
Kemal Ekinci	16 December 1992	Diyarbakır	Hh was killed as he left his house in the Saraykapi district. In early December, he had acted as a spokesperson for newspaper vendors who were protesting the prevention of newspaper sales in Diyarbakir.[23]
Lokman Gündüz	31 December 1992	Nusaybin	Aged 20, he had started distributing the pro-Kurdish newspaper that day.[23]
Orhan Karaağar	10 January 1993	Van	After being threatened by the government forces a numerous of times for delivering pro-Kurdish newspaper, he was knifed to death.[41][28]
Teğmen Demir	5 June 1993	Batman	He worked for pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgur Gundem and was found dead on 5 June 1993.[42]
Haşim Yaşa	14 June 1993	Diyarbakır	Aged 34, father of seven children was detained and beaten at the local police station. He and his uncle were killed by the Turkish state.[43][44][28]
Yusuf Karaüzüm	26 August 1993	Silvan	aged 27, attack of three people, second victim was Vahit Demir (30)[28]
Zülküf Akkaya	28 September 1993	Diyarbakır	aged 34, killed by three people. In protest the shops selling papers closed for several days.[28]
Adil Başkan	9 November 1993	Nusaybin	aged 28, he had been threatened before.[28]
Yalçın Yaşa	10 November 1993	Diyarbakır	aged 13
Kadir İpeksürer	19 November 1993	Urfa	He was attacked by militants of Turkish Hezbollah with cleavers and died in hospital.[28]
Adnan Işık	27 November 1993	Van	aged 29, married with four children, witnesses claimed that the assailants entered Van Police HQ with their cars.[28]
Mehmet Sencer	4 December 1993	Diyarbakır	aged 41, of Arabic off-spring.[28]
Musa Dürü	3 December 1993	Batman	the killings of Musa Dürü and Yahya Çilligöz happened within just 15 minutes.[28]
Yahya Çilligöz	3 December 1993	Batman	the killings of Musa Dürü and Yahya Çilligöz happened within just 15 minutes.[28]
Zuhat Tepe	14 December 1993	Iskenderun	aged 27, he was found 50 metres away from his home with his throat being cut.[28]
Hıdır Çelik	23 August 1994	Diyarbakır	aged 40, no result of the investigations until the end of 1994.[33]
Metin Alataş	3 April 2010	Adana	aged 34, distributing the Kurdish daily newspaper Azadiya Welat, was found hanging from a tree. He was also attacked in December whilst distributing the paper in the region. Colleagues believe he was killed by "illegal forces" or forced to commit suicide.[45]

Killings of journalists since 1995

The killings of journalists in Turkey since 1995 are more or less individual cases. Most prominent among the victims is Hrant Dink, killed in 2007, but the death of Metin Göktepe also raised great concern, since police officers beat him to death. Since 2014, several Syrian journalists who were working from Turkey and reporting on the rise of Daesh have been assassinated.

The death of Metin Alataş in 2010 is also a source of disagreement - while the autopsy claimed it was suicide, his family and colleagues demanded an investigation. He had formerly received death threats and had been violently assaulted.[46]

Name	Publication	Place	Date	Remarks
Metin Göktepe	Evrensel	İstanbul	8 January 1996	he was beaten to death by police. His death prompted a public outcry among journalists. After several trials, retrials, and appeals, in January 2000, an appeals court upheld seven-and-a-half-year prison sentences for five police officers involved in the killing.[47]
Kutlu Adalı	Yeni Düzen	Cyprus	8 July 1996	aged 61, an organization called Turkish Revenge Brigade (TIT) claimed responsibility for the attack.[48]
Yemliha Kaya	Halkın Gücü	İstanbul	27 July 1996	aged 28, she was the owner and editor-in-chief of the journal Halkın Gücü (Power of the People). She died as the result of a hunger strike against the prison conditions. She was in prison since 1995, charged with membership of the DHKP-C.[49]
Selahattin Turgay Daloğlu		İstanbul	9 September 1996	known as a writer of books about Fatsa (self-administration in Fatsa, see de:Selbstverwaltung in Fatsa). He was killed at his home.[50]
Reşat Aydın	AA, TRT		20 June 1997
Abdullah Doğan	Candan Fm	Konya	13 July 1997
Ünal Mesuloğlu	TRT	Manisa	8 November 1997
Mehmet Topaloğlu	Kurtuluş	Adana	28 January 1998	police officers killed Mehmet Topaloğlu, Adana representative of the newspaper Kurtuluş, and Selahattin Akıncı, a vendor for the same, and Bülent Dil, in a house raid in the night of 28 January.[51]
Önder Babat	Devrimci Hareket	İstanbul	3 March 2004	aged 25, he was shot in his head with a 9 mm bullet after he had left the office of his paper in Beyoğlu (Istanbul) together with three friends. It has not been found out who the attackers were, where they came from and why they shot Babat.[52] The ECtHR considered that the material in the case file did not enable it to conclude beyond all reasonable doubt that Önder Babat was killed by any State agent or person acting on behalf of the State authorities. Therefore, there had been no violation of Article 2 on that account.[53]
Yaşar Parlak	Silvan Mücadele	Silvan	18 August 2004	born 1956, started as an amateur journalist with Günaydın in 1973. After 1976 he worked for the news agency Akdeniz. His first book "History of Silvan" was released 1980. His research on unsolved killings in Silvan "Şehitler Şehri Silvan" (Town of Martyrs: Silvan) was released in 2004, but the governor banned its distribution. In April 2004 Yaşar Parlak was detained on allegations that he had kidnapped a girl (a young woman looking after his mother). He was released after one month. Two months later he was shot in his neck with one bullet. Six years later the assailants have not been identified.[54]
Hrant Dink	Agos	İstanbul	19 January 2007	aged 52, managing editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot outside his newspaper's offices in Istanbul. A day later, police arrested the alleged triggerman, 17-year-old Ogün Samast, who reportedly confessed to the crime.[55] The Turkish authorities have failed to address state officials' alleged involvement in the killing of journalist and human rights activist Hrant Dink, Amnesty International said in January 2012. Calls by the Dink family to investigate the collusion and negligence of state officials in the murder, backed by a European Court of Human Rights judgment in 2010, have not been heeded.[56]
İsmail Cihan Hayırsevener	Güney Marmara Yaşam	Bandırma	19 December 2009	aged 51, in connection with the killing 12 people are on trial in Istanbul. The founder of the newspaper İlk Haber (First News), İhsan Kuruoğlu is accused of having instructed Serkan Erakkuş to kill Mr Hayırsevener. The hearing of 28 August 2012 was adjourned to 22 November 2012.[57] On 1 August 2013 Istanbul Heavy Penal Court 10 sentenced İhsan Kuruoğlu to 27 years' imprisonment.[58]
Serena Shim	Press TV	Suruc,Turkey	19 October 2014	aged 29, killed in a very suspicious car crash, days after being threatened by Turkish Intelligence.
Ibrahim Abdulkader	Ayn Watan	Şanlıurfa, Turkey	27 December 2015	Victim was a Syrian refugee. Daesh has claimed responsibility.[59]
Firas Hammadi	Ayn Watan	Şanlıurfa, Turkey	27 December 2015	Victim was a Syrian refugee. Daesh has claimed responsibility.[59]
Naji al Jurf	Hentah	Gaziantep, Turkey	27 December 2015	Victim was a Syrian refugee. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the assassination, which happened as al Jurf's family were seeking asylum in France.[60]
Rohat Aktaş	Azadiya Welat	Cizre, Turkey	24 February 2016	Caught in the crossfire between the Turkey military and the PKK in Cizre, Turkey.[61][62]

See also

• Human Rights in Turkey
• Censorship in Turkey
• List of assassinated people from Turkey
• List of arrested journalists in Turkey

References

1. See Öldürülen Gazeteciler; accessed on 31 October 2012. A similar list exist on the pages of the Association of Contemporary Journalists in Turkey (tr: Çağdaş Gazeteciler Derneği) Öldürülen gazeteciler; accessed on 31 October 2012
2. See an article in gazeteciler.com of 4 April 2012 103 yılda 112 gazeteci ve yazar öldürüldü Archived 30 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 31 October 2012
3. See an article in marxist.org of 5 April 2011 6 Nisan 1909: Serbesti Gazetesi yazarı Hasan Fehmi Bey öldürüldü; accessed on 31 October 2012
4. "103 yılda 112 gazeteci ve yazar öldürüldü" (in Turkish). Gazeteciler. 4 April 2012. Archived from the original on 30 January 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
5. "AKTÜEL - Herhafta". www.yeniaktuel.com.tr. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
6. The daily Hürriyet reported on 1 May 1998 in the Story of 50 years of publishing on various victims in their ranks; accessed on 31 October 2012
7. See an article written by his friends at Newroz Şehidi Hüseyin Şen Yoldaş!! Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine; here the date of death is given as 21 March 1979; accessed on 31 October 2012
8. See an article in Sesonline of 25 November 2005 Ali İhsan Özgür anılıyor; accessed on 31 October 2012
9. Ganser, Daniele, NATO's secret armies: operation Gladio and terrorism in Western Europe, (Routledge, 2005), 238.
10. Some of biography can be found in Turkish at biyografi.net; accessed on 31 October 2012
11. See the Turkish Wikipedia tr:TKP/ML Hareketi
12. See an article in Bianet of 11 April 2010 Kaftancıoğlu'nun Katili 30 Yıl Sonra Hala Cezasız; accessed on 1 November 2012
13. Details can be found in Turkish in the newspaper Birgün of 21 October 2005 ‘Söz gerillası yapıyoruz sıkıysa durdurun!’; accessed on 31 October 2012
14. See an article in Istanbul Gerçeği of 4 September 2012 Turan Dursun'un katili nerede?; accessed on 31 October 2012
15. See an article in Bianet of Wall around Murder of Journalist Mumcu Holds; accessed on 31 October 2012
16. The article by Cüneyt Cebenoyan was published in Birgün of 26 January 2010 under the title of Onat Kutlar cinayeti ve PKK; accessed on 31 October 2012
17. See the news item in German on the pages of the Democratic Turkey Forum Wochenbericht 30/2005; accessed on 31 October 2012
18. See the news item in German on the pages of the Democratic Turkey Forum Wochenbericht 46/2006; accessed on 31 October 2012
19. https://web.archive.org/web/20120606143652/http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=151355. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
20. See a film produced on the 20th anniversary of Özgür Gündem reproduced on the Wiki "B-Ob8ungen" under Freie Presse oder Partei im Kurdenkonflikt? (text in Turkish and German); accessed on 30 October 2012
21. See an article in Özgür Gündem of 4 April 2011 Mirasınızı devralıyoruz (We take over your heritage); accessed on 30 October 2012
22. Human Rights Watch, 16 February 2000, What is Turkey's Hizbullah? Archived 17 July 2012 at Archive.today
23. The report of Human Rights Watch: The Kurds of Turkey: Killings, Disappearances and Torture of March 1993 can be found as google-books or as a PDF file; accessed on 31 October 2012
24. See the annual report of the Human Rights Foundation for 1992 (Turkish), Ankara January 1993, pages 143-148
25. See an article of 22 September 2011 and a comment in "sosyalist barikat" of September 1992 Basına Saldırılar Sistemleşiyor; accessed on 1 November 2012
26. "Hafiz Akdemir - Journalists Killed - Committee to Protect Journalists".
27. Entry on the case by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at http://cpj.org/killed/1993/kemal-kilic.php; accessed on 1 November 2012
28. See the annual report of the Human Rights Foundation for 1993 (Turkish), Ankara June 1995, pages 230-238
29. Entry on the case by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at http://cpj.org/killed/1993/ferhat-tepe.php; accessed on 1 November 2012
30. The full text of the judgment can be found on the pages of the ECtHR; accessed on 1 November 2012
31. "103 yılda 112 gazeteci ve yazar öldürüldü". www.gazeteciler.com. Archived from the original on 30 January 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
32. Turkish Daily News (TDN) later became Hürriyet Daily News.
33. See the annual report of the Human Rights Foundation for 1992 (English), Ankara September 1995, ISBN 975 7217 04 2, pages 247-249
34. Entry on the case by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at http://cpj.org/killed/1994/nazim-babaoglu.php; accessed on 1 November 2012
35. See the article in the daily Zaman of 20 March 2002 Kâmil Koşapınar mezarı başında anıldı; accessed on 1 November 2012
36. See an article in a local newspaper from Batman, dated 8 February 2012 KMM VE KAYIPLAR; accessed on 1 November 2012
37. Entry on the case by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at http://cpj.org/killed/1994/erol-akgun.php; accessed on 1 November 2012
38. See an article in Zaman of 2 June 1995 Kutmangil cinayeti aydınlandı; accessed on 1 November 2012 and a comment of Tuncay Özkan in Radikal of 30 June 2000 Cici oldu, sorularsa ortada; accessed on 1 November 2012
39. Entry on the case by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at http://cpj.org/killed/1995/sayfettin-tepe.php; accessed on 1 November 2012
40. Information was taken from a page called Onlarin Sayesinde -4 (Because of them -4), a page at Newededersim called Kürt basını 114 yaşında Archived 30 January 2013 at Archive.today (Kurdish press aged 114) and annual reports of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey.
41. "ÖLDÜRÜLEN GAZETECİLER VE CEZASIZLIK: Orhan Karaağar Cinayeti". Retrieved 7 September 2016.
42. "90'LARIN HAK MÜCADELELERİ/ NADİRE MATER: Başka Bir Medya Mümkün Dediler..." Retrieved 7 September 2016.
43. "JUDGMENT IN THE CASE OF YASA v. TURKEY BY THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS | KHRP | Kurdish Human Rights Project". www.khrp.org. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
44. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/052/1993/en/. Retrieved 7 September 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
45. The International Press Institute of April 2010 DW: Metin Alataş: Turkey Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 1 November 2012
46. "Metin Alataş - Journalists Killed - Committee to Protect Journalists".
47. Entry on the case by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at http://cpj.org/killed/1996/metin-goktepe.php; accessed on 1 November 2012
48. See the annual report of the Human Rights Foundation for 1996 (Turkish), Ankara September 1998, ISBN 975 7217 19 0, page 410
49. See the annual report of the Human Rights Foundation for 1996 (Turkish), Ankara September 1998, ISBN 975 7217 19 0, page 371
50. See an entry in the Forum Turka; accessed on 1 November 2012
51. See the annual report of the Human Rights Foundation for 1998 (Turkish), Ankara 2000 ISBN 975 7217 25 5, page 148/149
52. See an Article in Bianet of 13 January 2010 Turkey Sentenced by ECHR for Önder Babat Murder Case; accessed on 1 November 2012
53. The judgment of 12 January 2010 is available on the website of the ECtHR; accessed on 1 November 2012
54. Summarized from an article of Prof. Dr. Ümit Yazıcıoğlu Yaşar Parlak olayındaki faili meçhul parmak; accessed on 1 November 2012
55. Entry on the case by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) at http://cpj.org/killed/2007/hrant-dink.php; accessed on 1 November 2012
56. The press statement of 16 January 2012 Turkey fails to deliver justice for murdered Armenian journalist as trial ends; accessed on 1 November 2012
57. See an article in ajans10.com of 28 August 2012 Gazeteci cinayetinde sona gelindi Archived 8 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine; accessed on 1 November 2012
58. See the article in Bianet of 26 January 2015 BİA Medya Gözlem Raporu - Tam Metin; accessed on 26 January 2015
59. http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2015/10/30/two-pro-fsa-syrian-journalists-killed-in-turkeys-sanliurfa-province; accessed on 7 January 2016
60. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35188564; accessed on 7 January 2016
61. "Cizre'de cenazesi tamamen yananlardan biri gazeteci Rohat Aktaş çıktı - Diken". 24 February 2016.
62. "Rohat Aktaş - Journalists Killed". Committee to Protect Journalists.