Six of the nine journalists detained in Istanbul, Ankara and Urfa on Tuesday have been released after questioning by the public prosecutor's office. The Istanbul public prosecutor's office has requested arrest warrants for MA correspondents Esra Solin Dal and Mehmet Aslan as well as Erdoğan Alayumat, apparently on charges of membership of a terrorist organisation. The specific grounds are unknown because the lawyers have not been allowed access to the file because of a confidentiality order.

During the interrogation, the journalists were questioned about their reporting, tapped telephone conversations with information sources and posts on social media.

Those released are Enes Sezgin from the daily Yeni Yaşam newspaper, free press employees Saliha Aras, Yeşim Alıcı, Beste Argat Balcı and Şirin Ermiş as well as Doğan Kaynak, a former employee of the MA agency, who was detained in Urfa and released after a video hearing. The other five journalists were welcomed in front of the Çağlayan Courthouse in Istanbul with the slogan "The free press cannot be silenced". They were welcomed by representatives of the Dicle-Firat Journalists' Association (DFG), Mesopotamian Women Journalists' Association (MGK), HDK (Peoples’ Democratic Congress) spokesperson Esengül Demir and politicians from the DEM Party.

Saliha Demir, who works for the Yeni Yaşam newspaper, pointed out after her release that the detentions took place after the Day of Kurdish Journalism. "The government should know that the attempts to intimidate the free press make no sense," said the journalist. Lawyer Ferdi Yaman explained that the police detention of several days was ordered due to the journalistic work of those detained.