Ayşenur Arslan appears in court in case seeking prison sentence

Journalist Ayşenur Arslan appeared in court in the case opened against her due to remarks she made while commenting on the news regarding the attack carried out by the PKK on the Ministry of Interior during her program broadcast on Halk TV on October 2, 2023. A prison sentence of 1 to 7.5 years was requested for Arslan on the charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."

The hearing of the case, which is being heard at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court, has begun. In the indictment against journalist Arslan, it was alleged that her words on the program were "of a nature to create chaos and public outrage within society, and were guiding and suggestive regarding actions likely to be carried out by terrorist organizations."

Ayşenur Arslan, in her statement included in the indictment, emphasized that the words subject to the accusation were misunderstood and noted the following:

"Although my sentences may have exceeded their intended meaning at the point they reached, the point I intended and wanted to highlight was this; the thought occurred to me that it might be a message directed at the newly appointed Minister of Interior following the operations recently carried out under his coordination that dealt heavy blows to criminal organizations; because, there have been many operations recently carried out against drug traffickers and profit-oriented criminal organizations. Thinking about the way the action was carried out, I wondered if some criminal groups might be giving an intimidation message to the police force and the Ministry of Interior by making an analogy. It is out of the question for me to use any expression that glorifies or legitimizes terrorism, neither on the program nor during my statement now. I condemn the action that took place here, just as I did on the program."