While the journalist was being questioned by a judge, RSF joined a press briefing organised by the Ankara-based Association of Journalists in front of the Caglayan courthouse in Istanbul on Friday 20 February where some 200 journalists called for Alican Uludag’s immediate release. Representatives of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC), the Association of Journalists (Ankara), the Journalists Union of Türkiye (TGS), and the Parliamentary Reporters Association (PMD) were also present.
Alican Uludag, a seasoned journalist
Alican Uludag began his journalism career in 2008 at the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet (meaning “Republic”). In 2019, he won the Ugur Mumcu Award from the Progressive Journalists Association (CGD), as well as a prize from the Turkish Journalists’ Association (TGC) in 2020 and the Raif Badawi Award from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom the following year.
Since March 2021, he has been working for the German media outlet DW, with a break from December 2024 to December 2025, during which he worked for Now TV.
Four journalists are currently detained in Türkiye, including one under house arrest. The country ranks 159 out of 180 countries and territories in the RSF 2025 World Press Freedom Index.