Turkish reporter charged with spreading false info over subway-linked building collapse

Ankara prosecutors have charged Alican Uludağ, a judicial affairs reporter for Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service, with publicly spreading false information after he posted on X that the Darıca-Gebze subway construction contributed to the October 29 collapse of the seven-story Arslan apartment building in Gebze, Kocaeli province. The disaster claimed the lives of Emine and Levent Bilir and their two children, while their 18-year-old daughter survived.

Authorities allege the posts, made on November 3, 2025, lacked supporting evidence and could disturb public peace, seeking a penalty of one year and three months to five years and three months. In December, a first expert panel concluded that subway excavation had indeed caused ground loss beneath the structure, assigning primary blame to the contractor’s project management and to ministry and municipal officials for inadequate monitoring.

Subsequent expert reports offered alternative explanations, citing weak foundations and building defects, and one found insufficient evidence to link the subway work directly. Uludağ, who was previously jailed for unrelated social-media remarks about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, says he based his claims on official site inspections and that reporting the four deaths was in the public interest.