Turkish police on July 25 detained journalists Evrim Kepenek from bianet, Sibel Yükler from T24, and Fırat Can Arslan and Delal Akyüz from Mesopotamia News Agency in house raids, Duvarenglish.com reports.

As part of an investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporter Delal Akyüz's house in Izmir province and MA reporter Fırat Can Arslan and T24 reporter Sibel Yükler's houses in capital Ankara on July 25 were raided by the police.

The police later detained the journalists and take them to the police headquarters in İzmir and Ankara.

After the detention of three journalists, Turkish police also raided bianet's Women and LGBTI+ rights editor Evrim Kepenek’s house in Istanbul. After a search of her house, Kepenek was taken into custody by the police to be questioned.

The police said that Kepenek was detained as part of the investigation by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and that her statement would be taken on the charge of "targeting a public official."

Evrim Deniz from Gazete Duvar was also summoned to Diyarbakır Security Directorate to testify most likely as part of the same investigation.

According to Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS), 20 journalists were in jail as of July 12, 2023.