Veteran Turkish journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak sentenced to prison

Istanbul, March 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists urged the Turkish authorities on Monday not to fight the appeals of veteran journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak.

An Istanbul court found Altan, the former editor-in-chief of the defunct liberal daily Taraf, and Ilıcak, a former host for the defunct Can Erzincan TV, guilty of “aiding a [terrorist] organization without being a member” on March 13. Altan was sentenced to four years and six months and Ilıcak to three years and six months in prison. The journalists, who are accused of aiding the 2016 coup attempt, were retried after a previous related sentence of life in prison without parole was handed down in 2018. They were both released in 2019 but Altan was rearrested eight days later and kept in prison until 2021. Both currently remain free pending appeal.  

“Turkish journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak have already spent years of their lives in prison for nothing but doing their job,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “This fact is not going to change no matter how many times they face retrials. Turkish authorities should stop fighting Altan and Ilıcak’s appeals and cease retaliating against independent reporting.” 

This was the third retrial for Altan and Ilıcak, whose original 2018 sentence was for “attempting, through violence and force, to disrupt and replace the order as recognized by Turkey’s Constitution.” Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals overturned this verdict in 2019 and ordered a local court to try them on charges of aiding a terrorist organization, which resulted in a sentence of 10 years and six months for Altan and one for nine years and eight months for Ilıcak later that year. The Supreme Court overturned this second verdict in 2021 over a technicality and ordered another retrial. The local court found the journalists guilty once more in 2024 with updated sentences of six years, three months, and 18 days for Altan and five years and three months for Ilıcak. The court overturned this verdict too, in 2025, which has led to this recent retrial. 

CPJ’s email to the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office requesting comment did not receive an immediate reply.