Türkiye: Release Furkan Karabay from house arrest

Image Credit: Furkan Karabay

‘That Furkan Karabay finds himself under house arrest after spending over 200 days behind bars on spurious grounds shows that the authorities of Türkiye will stop at nothing to muzzle his investigative reporting. We continue to stand with Karabay and fellow young writers who risk everything to speak truth to power’. Burhan Sonmez, President of PEN International

03 February 2026 – The authorities of Türkiye should immediately release journalist and author Furkan Karabay from house arrest and end their relentless judicial harassment, PEN International said today. The organisation further urges the authorities to uphold the rights to freedom of expression and information, and to stop weaponizing the justice system to silence independent voices.

On 23 January 2026, police detained Furkan Karabay and placed him under house arrest on suspicion of ‘publicly spreading misleading information’ and ‘making targets of those who were tasked to combat terrorism’. The allegations against Karabay stem from his reporting on the case targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), which notoriously led to the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in March 2025, setting off massive protests across Türkiye. The investigation against Karabay is ongoing at the time of writing.     

Furkan Karabay has been repeatedly targeted by the authorities of Türkiye in recent years on account of his critical reporting. Already 2 December 2025, the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court found Karabay guilty of ‘insulting the president’, ‘insulting a public official’ and ‘making targets of those who were tasked to combat terrorism’ on account of his journalistic work and handed him a combined prison sentence of four years and three months. Karabay – who spent 201 days in pre-trial detention – was freed due to time served. PEN International, its newly established Young Writers Committee, and PEN Centres across the world actively campaigned for his release, notably translating and publishing some of his short stories. PEN International calls for Karabay’s baseless conviction to be overturned on appeal.

Once again, PEN International urges the authorities of Türkiye to end the arbitrary arrest and detention of writers and journalists simply on the basis of the content of their writing, and to safeguard the crucial role of journalism in fostering dialogue and debate on matters of public interest.

Additional information

Furkan Karabay, born 15 May 1996, has worked with several media outlets in Türkiye, including Medyascope, Cumhuriyet, 10Haber, Oda TV, and Gerçek Gündem. He notably specialises in judicial developments. In 2024, Karabay published Gurban, a book detailing his investigation into businessman Mubariz Mansimov’s activities with the government in Türkiye as well as his rise and fall.

Karabay responded to his house arrest with a new short story, translated into English by Ege Dündar, writer, Board member of PEN International and Vice-Chair of PEN International’s Young Writers Committee. Reflections From Detention: ‘I Don't Know Why They're Putting You Through This’ is available on Tomorrow Club here.

Note to editors:

For further details contact Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International

For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, Head of Communications and Campaigns at PEN International