Journalist Fatih Altaylı Faces New Investigation Over August 5 Broadcast While in Prison
fatih altayli
Journalist Fatih Altaylı, already imprisoned on charges of “threatening the President” and facing a minimum of five years in prison, is now the subject of another investigation.
According to Halk TV columnist İsmail Saymaz, this second probe concerns the August 5, 2025 episode of Altaylı’s YouTube channel, which had already been blocked by court order on the same date.
The new investigation, launched under Article 217 of the Turkish Penal Code, accuses Altaylı of “spreading misleading information”, carrying a potential sentence of one to three years.
Saymaz noted that the investigation began the same day the video aired. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office Anti-Terror Bureau requested the blocking of the August 5 broadcast and the entire YouTube channel, citing threats to national security and public order. The Istanbul 6th Criminal Judgeship of Peace approved the request and, without the prosecution’s request, also ordered the removal of the video content. Altaylı’s lawyers have appealed, while YouTube has yet to implement the order.
What Did Altaylı Say on August 5?
Since his imprisonment on June 22, Altaylı has been sending letters to be read on his YouTube channel, in which he comments on current events and shares updates on his prison life.
In his August 5 letter, Altaylı discussed topics ranging from the “solution process” commission reports to the e-Government fake diploma scandal.
He claimed that MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli had sent PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan a poem by Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı and said there was “a deeper harmony and mutual understanding” between them than assumed. According to Altaylı, Öcalan often said, “Bahçeli will solve it.”
The letter alleged that a new formula for granting amnesty to PKK members had emerged, with the AKP’s İmralı delegation reportedly explaining how it would work:
A law would be passed to dissolve the PKK, and sentences handed down for membership in a dissolved organization would become null and void.
Altaylı also said the fake diploma scandal was expanding, revealing similar fraudulent methods in property transactions, and remarked:
“Incompetence has completely thrown the state off balance.”
