Three Turkish journalists have filed criminal complaints after their private communication and location data were allegedly obtained illegally and circulated online, in what they describe as an effort to intimidate and discredit them, their lawyer announced.
Nevşin Mengü, Barış Pehlivan and Yavuz Oğhan filed the complaints at the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office through their lawyer, Hüseyin Ersöz, following the release of what appeared to be their HTS (Communication Traffic Service) records and cell tower data on X.
The data, shared by anonymous high-follower accounts, allegedly detailed whom they contacted and where they had been, fueling claims of inappropriate ties to a fugitive suspect.
The journalists also filed separate complaints over allegations published in the pro-government Akşam newspaper, which claimed they had received money from fugitive Emrah Bağdatlı on behalf of jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The allegations were widely shared online along with what were claimed to be supporting base station logs.
İmamoğlu, the most powerful political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been in pretrial detention on corruption charges since March 23, widely seen as politically motivated.
“This is not only a security threat, but also a test of societal ethics,” Mengü said in a statement on X. “Anonymous accounts have been sharing my HTS records for days, suggesting I met with people I don’t even know, creating the impression of some kind of corrupt relationship. Today it’s me; tomorrow it could be someone else. Aren’t we all equal citizens?”
Mengü, who also voiced concerns for her safety in a YouTube broadcast, criticized the public exposure of her phone’s location data.
Pehlivan similarly pushed back against the campaign, writing, “Investigate me as you’ve done for the past 22 years. Check all of my accounts. But show the same diligence toward those who are leaking my private information to anonymous social media accounts.”
Their lawyer, Ersöz, said the criminal complaint demands an investigation into the unknown individuals responsible for unlawfully accessing and manipulating the data. “We stressed that this case affects not just our clients but the legal security of all citizens,” he said.
The case has reignited concerns about digital harassment, data privacy and press freedom in Turkey, where journalists often face legal and extralegal pressure for their work.
Allegations about data breaches are widespread in Turkey, where the government is accused of lacking the ability to secure sensitive information.
Turkey, which suffers from a poor record in press freedom, dropped to 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders earlier this month.