Hidayet Karaca, a former journalist and chief executive of the Samanyolu Media Group, has entered his 10th year of imprisonment in Turkey, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported.
Karaca, who is incarcerated in Silivri Prison, notorious for its large number of political prisoners, has spent more than eight years in a one-person cell. He used to run the Samanyolu TV network, which aired coverage critical of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before his unlawful imprisonment in December 2014, a move that was described by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as politically motivated.
Hidayet Karaca’s decade-long arrest has sparked widespread commentary on social media, with users expressing frustration and criticism.
One X user expressed disbelief, writing, “It feels unreal, but it’s not. Hidayet Karaca has been detained for 10 years—3,654 days.”
Former journalist Abdullah Özyurt highlighted the personal and symbolic weight of his detention, stating, “A full decade—10 years stolen from a life. Hidayet Karaca represents thousands unjustly imprisoned. It’s heartbreaking that, apart from a small group of supporters, there’s silence. Is justice being served selectively?”
Sevgi Akarçesme, former journalist and media executive, compared Karaca’s plight to other high-profile cases, posting, ” Hidayet Karaca has been detained for a decade. Apart from a few supporters, his case is overlooked, seemingly because of his affiliations. Yet, if Osman Kavala is unjustly detained, so is Hidayet Karaca.”
In 2017 Karaca was sentenced by an İstanbul court to more than 31 years’ imprisonment over the scenario of a TV series that was broadcast by Samanyolu TV on charges that include membership in a terrorist organization for his alleged ties to the Gülen movement.
In June 2018 the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court handed down an aggravated life sentence to Karaca on charges of attempting to overturn the constitutional order. His sentence was later upheld by the Ankara Regional Court of Justice in November 2020 as part of a case that was launched against 75 people accused of links to the movement. On June 4, 2022, he was sentenced to almost 297 years at the end of a trial initiated by the government.
Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen who passed away in exile in October, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He locked up thousands including many prosecutors, judges and police officers involved in the investigation as well as journalists who reported on it.
Erdoğan intensified the crackdown on the movement following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016, that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.
The Supreme Court of Appeals in a ruling dated June 28 decided to annul the aggravated life sentence given to Karaca on the grounds that he was in jail at the time of the coup attempt and were not involved in it. Yet the top court suggested the maximum punishment for him on charges of terrorist organization membership due to his alleged links to the Gülen movement.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in 2023 concluded an application filed by Karaca for his arbitrary detention in 2015, saying that his detention was a violation of his rights.
The court ordered Turkey to pay 12,000 euros to Karaca in non-pecuniary damages in addition to 6,000 euros for costs and expenses. However, the ECtHR decision does not address the release of the 60-year-old journalist since it pertains to his initial period of detention, that is, his situation before being convicted.
After having exhausted all domestic remedies regarding the sentence Karaca was given, he and his lawyers filed another application with the ECtHR at the beginning of 2023. A request for his release can only be made after the conclusion of that application.
Turkey, one of the world’s top jailers of journalists, is ranked 158th in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2024 World Press Freedom Index, among 180 countries, not far from North Korea, which occupies the bottom of the list.