Journalist Furkan Karabay referred to court with request for arrest: His statement revealed

Journalist Furkan Karabay was detained yesterday as part of an investigation conducted into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It was stated that Karabay is accused of misinforming the public. Having completed his procedures at the police station as part of the investigation, Karabay was brought before the prosecutor's office and subsequently sent to the criminal judgeship of peace with a request for his arrest.

Details of Karabay's statement have also emerged. In his statement, Karabay said that his personal account with the handle @frknkarabay on the social media platform Twitter had been blocked from access, but stated that he had not received any notification regarding the reason. Stating that he currently uses the account @karabayfurkann, Karabay also noted that he works as a reporter for a news channel.

It was alleged that the post requested from him was related to a member of the judiciary who previously served as the Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of Istanbul. However, Karabay stated in his testimony, "The account belonging to me with the handle @frknkarabay on Twitter, or X, was blocked from access, but I do not know why it was blocked; no notification was served to me in this regard. The Twitter account @karabayfurkann that I currently use belongs to me. I also work as a reporter for the news channel with the Twitter account @medyascope, which is also on X.

I posted the tweet you asked me about regarding the member of the judiciary who previously served as the Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of Istanbul. However, the point I wanted to make here was not directed at any member of the judiciary, but rather to explain the document that had entered the case file in the IMM investigation and had been added to the file by the then-Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor. This post I made did not contain any action directed at any member of the judiciary; as a journalist and reporter, I placed the document, which I considered to be newsworthy, on the internet news site called Medyascope, and I shared the link to it on my personal Twitter account," he said.

Emphasizing that the process was carried out entirely for journalistic purposes, Karabay stated the following in the continuation of his defense: "My lawyers will present the document in question at the end of my statement. The documentation for the news I have reported is available. The news I have reported previously is also evident. The journalistic activity I perform is also evident. All of them carry concrete reality. Therefore, there is no situation such as spreading misleading information. I do not accept the accusations leveled against me. I request to be released."

Following the statement, the detention procedures for Karabay have been completed, and whether or not he will be arrested will be determined by the decision to be made by the criminal judgeship of peace.