Veteran Journalist Erol Onderoglu Steps Down as RSF Turkey Representative After 30 Years

ISTANBUL (Botan Times) — Erol Önderoğlu, a prominent figure in press freedom advocacy, has stepped down from his role as the Turkey representative for Reporters Without Borders (RSF) after nearly 30 years of service.

The Paris-based media watchdog and Önderoğlu reached a mutual agreement regarding his departure, which officially took effect on August 5, according to a written statement released by the journalist. Önderoğlu stated that while his formal tenure with RSF has concluded, he will continue his fight for press freedom independently. He expressed gratitude to journalists, legal professionals, and lawmakers who supported his work over the decades.

A Career Defined by Legal Battles and Monitoring

Önderoğlu’s career has been deeply intertwined with the turbulent landscape of Turkish media. Throughout his three decades at RSF, which he joined in January 1996 while investigating the death of journalist Metin Göktepe in police custody, Önderoğlu monitored more than 1,000 court hearings and authored over 10,000 news reports.

He was a fixture in Turkish courtrooms, tracking high-profile press freedom cases, including the trials concerning the assassinations of Hrant Dink, Cihan Hayırsevener, Güngör Arslan, and Jamal Khashoggi. His monitoring work also covered major press trials involving outlets such as Cumhuriyet, Agos, Evrensel, BirGün, Sözcü, Halk TV, and Tele1, as well as cases against international journalists like Deniz Yücel and Joakim Medin.

Despite leaving RSF, Önderoğlu will continue to prepare the quarterly Media Monitoring Report for the independent Turkish news portal Bianet, a comprehensive index on press freedom that he has authored for the past 25 years.

Ongoing Legal Prosecution

Önderoğlu’s advocacy has frequently made him a target of judicial harassment. In June 2016, he was briefly imprisoned alongside academic Şebnem Korur Fincancı and author Ahmet Nesin after participating in a solidarity campaign for the shuttered pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem, where he acted as a symbolic co-editor for a day.

While a court acquitted the trio in 2019, an appeals court subsequently overturned the ruling. The retrial has dragged on for a decade and remains ongoing.

International Recognition

Over his career, Önderoğlu has received numerous accolades for his defense of free expression. He was awarded the Press Freedom Award by the Journalists Association of Turkey (TGC) in 2014, sharing it with Tuğrul Eryılmaz. He later received the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) Award in 2016 and the prestigious Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award in 2018.

In addition to his role at RSF, Önderoğlu has served on the council of IFEX, as a rapporteur under the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, and has participated for seven years in the Ankara delegations of the International Press Institute (IPI). He has also frequently served as a jury member for the TGC and Metin Göktepe Journalism Awards.

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