Journalist İrem Delice jailed in Turkey over 'Erdoğan died' report
İrem Delice was arrested on August 28, 2026, on suspicion of spreading disinformation.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People's Party hold up placards in protest at the draft disinformation law at the parliament, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. (Photo: AP/Burhan Ozbilici)
Photograph: Committee to Protect Journalists (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Journalist İrem Delice was arrested in Turkey on August 28, 2026, on suspicion of spreading disinformation.
- The charges relate to a social media post by Aydın Denge newspaper with the headline 'Erdoğan passed away,' which referred to a local woman named Gülşen Erdoğan.
- Delice and three other Aydın Denge staff were initially released under judicial control but Delice was later imprisoned after a prosecution appeal.
- The Committee to Protect Journalists stated that Turkey's disinformation law is being used to criminalise journalism.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 2 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 9 of the 11 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
60/100
Craft
65/100
Hype
20/100
11 sources · methodology
Journalist İrem Delice was arrested in Turkey on August 28, 2026, on suspicion of spreading disinformation. The charges stem from a social media post by Aydın Denge newspaper with the headline 'Erdoğan passed away,' which referred to a local woman named Gülşen Erdoğan. Delice and three other staff members from Aydın Denge were initially released under judicial control but Delice was later imprisoned after a prosecution appeal.
Disagreement on initial release
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that Delice and three other staff members were taken into police custody on August 26 and a court released the four pending investigation under judicial control on the same day. Haberler stated that Delice was released under judicial supervision in the investigation launched over the social media post. Cumhuriyet reported that Emin Aydın, Yeşim Ülker, and İrem Delice were released under judicial control by the duty judge of the criminal court of peace to which they were referred after their detention procedures in the police. However, stockholmcf.org, Bianet, Halk TV, and sesgazete.net all state that Delice was arrested after prosecutors appealed her earlier release, without detailing the initial release conditions.
What the coverage left out
None of the left or centre-rated reports below mention the Committee to Protect Journalists's statement that at least 83 journalists have been charged 114 times over disinformation since the law came into force in 2022.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 4 Sept 2026, 22:15, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
Journalist İrem Delice jailed in Turkey over 'Erdoğan died' report
Cumhuriyet — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
1 rated outlet
- Cumhuriyet, rated left, led on the journalist's arrest following a prosecutor's appeal. It reported that İrem Delice was initially released under judicial control but was later arrested after the Aydın Chief Public Prosecutor's Office appealed the decision. The report also mentioned that the investigation was launched after Aydın Denge newspaper shared a social media post with the headline 'Erdoğan passed away.' The outlet included related news items about the initial detention and release of the four journalists and a statement from the İzmir Journalists Association.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- The Committee to Protect Journalists, rated centre, led on the arrest of journalist İrem Delice and called for her immediate release. It stated that Turkish authorities should repeal the disinformation law, which it claims is being used to criminalise journalism. The report detailed that Delice and three other staff members from Aydın Denge were arrested on August 26 and later released under judicial control, but Delice was subsequently imprisoned after a prosecution appeal. The outlet quoted CPJ's Turkey representative, Özgür Öğret, and Aydın Denge publisher Emin Aydın, who stated there was no intention to insult the president or spread false information.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Journalist İrem Delice jailed in Turkey over 'Erdoğan died' report?
- Of the 2 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 50% are rated left, 50% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 11. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Journalist İrem Delice jailed in Turkey over 'Erdoğan died' report left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 2 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Journalist İrem Delice jailed in Turkey over 'Erdoğan died' report biased?
- Journalist İrem Delice jailed in Turkey over 'Erdoğan died' report is one event reported by 11 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which outlets covered Journalist İrem Delice jailed in Turkey over 'Erdoğan died' report?
- 11 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- Why was journalist İrem Delice arrested in Turkey?
- Journalist İrem Delice was arrested on suspicion of spreading disinformation. The charges relate to a social media post by her newspaper, Aydın Denge, with the headline 'Erdoğan passed away,' which referred to a local woman named Gülşen Erdoğan.
- What happened after İrem Delice was initially released?
- After being initially released under judicial control along with three other staff members from Aydın Denge, İrem Delice was later imprisoned following an appeal by the prosecution.
- What is the Committee to Protect Journalists's stance on the situation?
- The Committee to Protect Journalists called for İrem Delice's immediate release and the repeal of Turkey's disinformation law, stating it is being used to criminalise journalism. They quoted Delice's publisher, Emin Aydın, who denied any intention to insult the president or spread false information.
Read it at the source
11 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
1Centre
1Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
9- DFG: Pressure and legal proceedings against journalists continued in August (opens anf-news.com in a new tab)
anf-news.com
- Turkish journalist jailed for headline with president's last name - Journalisten (opens journalisten.se in a new tab)
journalisten.se — is journalisten.se biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Local newspaper sparks outrage in Turkey after social media post claims Erdoğan is dead (opens Новое Время in a new tab)
Новое Время
- CPJ calls for release of Turkish journalist jailed over ‘Erdoğan passed away’ post - Turkish Minute (opens turkishminute.com in a new tab)
turkishminute.com — is turkishminute.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Turkish journalist arrested in ‘Erdoğan died’ social media post investigation - Stockholm Center for Freedom (opens stockholmcf.org in a new tab)
stockholmcf.org
- Arrests made in Aydın over news report of "Erdoğan has passed away". (opens Bianet in a new tab)
- In the Investigation Into the "Erdoğan Has Passed Away" Social Media Post, the Journalist Was Arrested Following an Appeal by the Prosecutor's Office. (opens Halk TV in a new tab)
- A journalist in Aydın was arrested for posting a message saying "Erdoğan has passed away." (opens sesgazete.net in a new tab)
sesgazete.net
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
