By Özlem Altunok, Freemuse Researcher, Türkiye.
In early 2026, Freemuse published its annual report on the State of Artistic Freedom documenting attacks on artistic freedom worldwide throughout 2025. This update examines developments in Türkiye in the first half of 2026.
While concerns about judicial politicisation under the AKP government have long been raised in Türkiye, recent developments suggest increasing judicial intervention in political processes. This broader climate has coincided with continued legal action against opposition figures and has had direct consequences for artists and cultural workers. In last year’s Freemuse report, we documented pressure on artists who participated in or expressed support for the 19 March protests that began after the detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and a leading opposition figure from the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Actor Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu and photographer Murat Germen were among 21 people charged for supporting the opposition’s social media campaign to boycott government-linked companies. Their requests for acquittal were rejected in May 2026, and the trial continues.
Filmmakers and Comedians Prosecuted
Filmmakers whose work features Kurdish topics, and comedians who dare to satirise leaders past and present are vulnerable targets.
The long running prosecution of the documentary Bakur, directed by Çayan Demirel and Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, continued in 2026. The first case, launched in 2017, resulted in the directors being sentenced in 2023 for “propagandising for a terrorist organisation.” A separate case was brought against the film’s cinematographer Koray Kesik in 2024. In May 2026, Kesik was likewise sentenced to two years and one month in prison on the same charge.
Comedian Tuba Ulu, who was detained following remarks made during a stand-up performance in which she made an explicit joke concerning 16th century Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She was freed to face trial on charges of “inciting hatred and hostility among the public” despite having apologised. If convicted, she faces a prison sentence of up to three years. Her case follows a long-standing trend of prosecutions of commentary deemed insulting to historic figures.
‘Promoting family institutions’: Escalating Anti-LGBTI+ Policies and Cultural Censorship
Anti-LGBTI+ policies continued to advance in the first half of 2026, accompanied by official rhetoric promoting the “sanctity of the family institution.” In February, a pro-government newspaper reported that a draft anti-LGBTI+ bill had been reintroduced to parliament after being withdrawn in 2025 following public criticism, while the Ministry of Family and Social Services hosted an international “Conference on Strengthening the Family.” During this period, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described LGBTI+ individuals as “deviant” and a threat to the family, and the public broadcaster TRT streamed a documentary titled Rainbow Fascism further endangering LGBTI+. Pressure on LGBTI+ organisations also intensified: the Young LGBTI+ Association was closed in 2025 after authorities deemed illustrations it had published on social media “obscene,” and 11 of its members remain on trial, facing up to three years’ imprisonment.
The Continuing Rise of Informal Censorship
Direct state intervention has increasingly become unnecessary. A notable recent trend has been the growing role of self-described concerned citizens, online harassment campaigns, and civil society organisations in initiating efforts to suppress artistic expression. Allegations based on vague concepts such as “public morality” or “offending spiritual values” continue to be used as justifications. In this context, sanctions imposed by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), including fines and content removal orders against popular television series and productions available on digital streaming platforms, remained.
One of the most notable cases involved the temporary three-day closure of Istanbul’s Zorlu Performing Arts Centre after pro-government media accused the scheduled performers—Slaughter to Prevail, Behemoth and God Is an Astronaut—of promoting “Satanism” and being “anti-religious.” Following a social media campaign, the district governor’s office banned the concerts as “incompatible with societal values,” and, under the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations, effectively suspended all events at the venue during that period, despite the bands having previously performed in Türkiye without restriction.
Courts Acquit Filmmaker and LGBTI+ Activist Despite Broader Crackdown
However, a few acquittal rulings stand out as isolated examples in this intense climate of censorship. One such case involved filmmaker Rojhilat Aksoy, who faced prosecution after applying to screen the animated documentary Aurora’s Sunrise by the Armenian director, Inna Sahakyan that deals with the mass deportation and killings of Armenians in 1915. Aksoy was charged on the grounds that the film characterised the 1915 events as “genocide”, thus constituting the crime of ‘publicly insulting the Turkish nation, the Republic of Türkiye, and the state’s institutions and organs’ (Turkish Penal Code 301). This law has been used to prosecute numerous writers and artists over the years despite sharp criticism both within Türkiye and internationally. Another welcome acquittal was that of the chairperson of the 17 May Association LGBTI+ organisation, Defne Güzel, was prosecuted for allegedly acting against public morality based on publications and an exhibition about intersex rights in 2023, who faced up to three years in prison but was acquitted in May 2026.
Yet acquittals and lifting of bans offer only fragile victories. The film Rojbash, directed by Özkan Küçük, offers a clear example of this back-and-forth pattern of bans being applied, then lifted, then reapplied. In 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism effectively banned the screening of the film, which tells the story of a group of Kurdish theatre artists coming together to stage a play in Kurdish for the first time in 25 years, by ruling that it was “not suitable for commercial distribution and screening.” A court later found the ban unlawful and lifted it in early 2026. Yet only months later, the film was banned again, this time on the grounds that certain scenes and dialogues in the film failed to respect “social sensitivities” and could “lead to division within society.”
The developments documented in the first half of 2026 reinforce a familiar pattern in Türkiye: one step forward, two steps back. Isolated advances for artistic freedom are repeatedly undermined by new restrictions, prosecutions, and censorship measures. Ensuring meaningful progress will require more than occasional acquittals. It demands sustained reforms to protect freedom of expression, prevent the arbitrary use of laws against artists and cultural workers, and uphold the independence of cultural and democratic institutions.
