Following the killing of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul on 19 January 2007 various lists of journalists killed in Turkey since the early 20th century were published. One such list was published by the Turkish Association of Journalists (tr: Türkiye Gazteciler Cemiyeti). It contains 68 names of journalists killed between 1909 and 2022. A "Platform of imprisoned journalists" published a list in April 2012 that contained 112 names. Yet, it is difficult to obtain detailed information in particular on early cases, in order to determine whether the deaths had been assassinations directly linked to the profession of the victims.
It also appears that some people were not journalists by profession, but affiliated to certain publications as readers, vendors or even part-time publishers of political comments. These people will not be included in the lists, apart from people who were killed because they distributed certain publications.
In some cases, the state has been seen guilty for assassinating Kurdish journalists.
Killings until September 1980
Only few cases of journalists killed in Turkey between the foundation of the Republic and the military coup of 12 September 1980 were listed. Yet, some of these killings were high-profile assassinations that contributed to the atmosphere of political violence (often termed "civil war") that the Turkish army used as the main reason for its intervention. A bit more information is available on some of the 15 cases reported for this period: { | class = wikitable ! Name!!Publication!!Place!!Date!!Remarks |- | Hikmet Şevket1930|| |- | Sabahattin Ali|| Marko Paşa|| Edirne|| 2 April 1948||listed under writers |- | Hüseyin Şen||KAWA||Istanbul||21 March 1978||He was the editor-in-chief of the journal and member of a Kurdish newspaper. He was allegedly tortured and killed in Selimiye (Istanbul) military prison. |- | Gani Bozarslan|| Aydınlık||||10 May 1978||Translated books from Kurdish to Turkish |- | Ali İhsan Özgür||Politika||Istanbul||21 November 1978||Politika was first issued by DİSK and later by the TKP. Ali İhsan Özgür disappeared so that the family had difficulties in identifying him. |- | Cengiz Polatkan|| Hafta Sonu|| Ankara||1 December 1978|| |- | Abdi İpekçi|| Milliyet|| Istanbul||1 February 1979||Two members of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, Oral Çelik and Mehmet Ali Ağca (who later shot pope John Paul II), murdered Abdi İpekçi in his car on the way back home from his office in front of his apartment building in Istanbul. Ağca was caught due to an informant and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months in a military prison in Istanbul, Ağca escaped with the help of military officer. |- | İlhan Darendelioğlu||Ortadoğu|| Istanbul||19 November 1979||Member of the MHP, see :tr:İlhan Egemen Darendelioğlu |- | İsmail Gerçeksöz||Ortadoğu||Istanbul||4 April 1980||Also published books |- | Hayrabet Honca|| Halkın Birliği|| Kayseri||1 May 1980||Member of TKP/ML Hareketi, killed by right-wingers |- | Ümit Kaftancıoğlu|| TRT|| Istanbul|| 11 April 1980||Right-wing Ahmet Mustafa Kıvılcım stated in his interrogation by the police that he killed Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, because he was a "leftist", but later rejected the statement. He remained four months in pre-trial detention and was released. The assailants were not found. |- | Muzaffer Fevzioğlu|| Hizmet|| Trabzon|| 15 April 1980|| |- | Recai Ünal||Demokrat||Istanbul||22 July 1980||Allegedly kidnapped and tortured |}