Prominent Turkish political scientist and journalist Nuray Mert has been indicted on charges of membership in a terrorist organization over a photo taken with Kurdish militants in Syria in 2014, she wrote in an article for the Medyascope news website.
Mert, 65, said in the article on Wednesday that she was informed of the criminal charges against her on Tuesday.
She had been summoned for questioning in October 2024 over allegations of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. She answered the prosecutor’s questions in the presence of her lawyers, adding that she never expected to be indicted and is already subject to a travel ban.
Mert is set to stand trial at a high criminal court.
The photos in question were taken in 2014 in the Kurdish-controlled region of Syria, where Mert and a group of women journalists from Turkey interviewed PKK militants. The visit took place during peace talks between the Turkish government and the PKK, which ultimately collapsed in 2015.
“Like many journalists, we interviewed PKK members and shared our reports with the public,” she said.
The journalist lamented that she has faced repeated accusations and investigations simply for expressing her opinions throughout her career.
“I believe that apart from outright lies, slander and distortions, people say what they think is true. I have never compromised my principles or remained silent. If I am guilty of anything, it is this,” Mert said.
The indictment comes at a time of renewed peace talks with the PKK, which led jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to call on the group to lay down its arms and disband in a historic statement read out in İstanbul last month.
In December 2018 Mert was given a suspended sentence for signing a “peace declaration” in 2016 that urged Turkey to end its military operations in the country’s southeast and resume negotiations with the PKK.
Mert is a professor of political science and international relations at İstanbul University. She has been a political observer and contributor to major newspapers in Turkey throughout her career.
She is an outspoken critic of sensitive issues in Turkey, including minority rights, Kurdish rights and freedom of religion and the press.