DW correspondent arrested in Turkey

DW News · Feb 20, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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DW reporter Alican Uludag was arrested in Ankara on Thursday and taken to the headquarters of the Istanbul Provincial Police, the highest police authority in Istanbul. Uludag, who has worked for DW in Turkey for several years, was scheduled to appear before a magistrate on Friday. What else do we know about the correspondent's arrest? About 30 police officers arrested Uludag in front of his family. His apartment was searched and IT equipment was confiscated. Uludag is accused of "disseminating misleading information to the public," "insulting the president," and "insulting the Turkish nation, state, and institutions." The allegations relate to an X-post he made about a year and a half ago. In it, he criticizes measures taken by the Turkish government that led to the release of possible "Islamic State" terrorists. He accused the government of corruption. As a long-time court reporter, Uludag reports on human rights violations, corruption cases, and trials that reach a wide audience. DW Director General Barbara Massing urged Uludag's release. "The accusations against our colleague are baseless. Alican Uludag is a well-known investigative journalist who focuses on reporting about corruption," said Massing. “He is very well-connected and has access to important sources. This makes him dangerous to the government, in their eyes. The fact that a journalist is being treated like a serious criminal, taken away by 30 police officers and brought directly to Istanbul, serves as a deliberate act of intimidation and shows how severely the government is suppressing press freedom. Our colleague must be released immediately." DW is in close contact with Uludag's relatives, local lawyers, and other relevant authorities in Turkey. On Friday, Alican Uludag will be accompanied to the magistrate by DW colleagues, lawyers, and attorneys from the Istanbul Bar Association.Recipient of Raif Badawi journalism prize Uludag was awarded the Raif Badawi Prize for Courageous Journalism in Germany in 2021, in recognition of his reporting under mounting pressure on independent media in Turkey. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation said the award highlighted the work of the judicial correspondent at a time when free journalism in Turkey is facing severe constraints. Numerous journalists remain imprisoned in Turkey, which ranks 159th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' press freedom index. Large parts of the country's media landscape are under direct or indirect government control.