Presidential threat
Turkish journalist sentenced to several years in prison
Updated 11/26/2025 – 12:39 p.mReading time: 1 min.
The well-known journalist Fatih Altayli has been in custody for five months. Now he is being convicted of threatening President Erdogan. The reason is a YouTube program.
One of Turkey’s best-known journalists and political commentators has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison. Judges in Istanbul found Fatih Altayli guilty of threatening Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan, state news agency Anadolu reported. The verdict is not yet final.
Altayli, who was arrested in June, remains in prison. There is a risk of absconding, the court argued, according to Anadolu.
Before his arrest, the 63-year-old commented almost daily on political events in Turkey on a YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers.
According to Anadolu, the background is a video in which Altayli talks about a survey. Accordingly, 70 percent of people in Turkey would be against Erdogan’s lifelong term in office. Altayli argues in the video that the Turkish people do not want to give up their right to vote. He explains this using historical examples. In the past, the people got rid of some Ottoman rulers by “strangling” them or becoming victims of assassination attempts.
Altayli had denied the allegations and said his statements had been deliberately distorted.
