Ylenia Gostoli
@yleniagostoli.bsky.social
150 followers 140 following 21 posts
Award-winning journalist in #Istanbul / giornalista in #Turchia / gazeteci. Previously, three years in the West Bank via London yleniagostoli.com
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Reposted by Ylenia Gostoli
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
Finally got around to listening to Lethal Dissent. Brave reporting & incredible storytelling from @faribanawa.bsky.social @berileski.bsky.social @farooqumar.bsky.social on how #Iranian dissidents are surveilled & silenced in exile. Final episode broke me.
www.onspecpodcast.com/season-five-...
Season 5: Lethal Dissent — On Spec
www.onspecpodcast.com
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
Another major recognition for our investigation into Turkey's EU-funded deportations of Syrian and Afghan refugees with @lighthousereports.com @andresmourenza.bsky.social @maybulman.bsky.social @sebnemarsu.bsky.social @nicolasbourcier.bsky.social and the rest of our stellar team
Reposted by Ylenia Gostoli
jenhattam.bsky.social
Chilling and important reporting by @yleniagostoli.bsky.social as this kind of tech-powered surveillance of protesters spreads around the world.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
#Turkey is accelerating its use of facial recognition to detain and prosecute protesters - often with little or no evidence. I’ve been investigating how #AI is contributing to the erosion of the rule of law & supercharging authoritarianism 🧵
newlinesmag.com/spotlight/tu... @newlinesmag.bsky.social
Turkey’s AI-Powered Protest Crackdown
Documents show that Ankara is expanding facial recognition policing while circumventing legal safeguards, charging demonstrators with little to no proof of wrongdoing
newlinesmag.com
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
"We see this as a way to transform the whole society. There has been a backsliding of rights in #Turkey in the last 10 years, this is a chance to tackle it," @ceylanakca.bsky.social on the ongoing negotiations #KurdishPeace
lespresso.it/c/mondo/2025...
Reposted by Ylenia Gostoli
alexiakalaitzi.bsky.social
My brilliant friend @yleniagostoli.bsky.social on how Ankara expands facial recognition to detain protesters.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
#Turkey is accelerating its use of facial recognition to detain and prosecute protesters - often with little or no evidence. I’ve been investigating how #AI is contributing to the erosion of the rule of law & supercharging authoritarianism 🧵
newlinesmag.com/spotlight/tu... @newlinesmag.bsky.social
Turkey’s AI-Powered Protest Crackdown
Documents show that Ankara is expanding facial recognition policing while circumventing legal safeguards, charging demonstrators with little to no proof of wrongdoing
newlinesmag.com
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
8/ Turkey is becoming a cautionary tale of how AI-powered surveillance isn’t just watching us, but also quietly reshaping the boundary between democracy and authoritarianism, individuals and collective action - ultimately remodelling the relationship between citizens and state.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
7/ “In Turkey today, walking is a crime,” human rights lawyer Gulizar Tuncer, whose son was detained, told me. “When police came to our house ... the searches were very superficial. The purpose is not to find evidence of a crime, the purpose is to intimidate”.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
6/ There’s virtually no oversight. Turkey lacks legal frameworks for the use of AI in policing. Broad security exemptions allow circumvention of data protection laws. Lawyers argue those photos should not be admissible as evidence.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
5/ In late 2024, Turkey's police bought 3,500 facial recognition cameras and 278 servers. In 2025, more contracts and tenders followed - including one for 13,000 new cameras, published just a day before the mayor’s arrest.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
4/ A Chinese-made Hikvision camera was spotted at a major Istanbul rally. It matches a model listed in a Turkish interior ministry document - capable of detecting 120 faces simultaneously.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
3/ Arrests have continued since. Police reports show 100+ young people identified via surveillance cameras - most simply standing in the crowd. Some wore face masks against tear gas, which was used as evidence of a separate crime.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
2/ Nearly 2,000 mostly young people were detained during the March protests against the arrest of #Istanbul's mayor, #Imamoglu. 819 are facing charges in 20 investigations - many arrested in dawn raids, held for weeks without trial. Often, their “crime” was just being present.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
#Turkey is accelerating its use of facial recognition to detain and prosecute protesters - often with little or no evidence. I’ve been investigating how #AI is contributing to the erosion of the rule of law & supercharging authoritarianism 🧵
newlinesmag.com/spotlight/tu... @newlinesmag.bsky.social
Turkey’s AI-Powered Protest Crackdown
Documents show that Ankara is expanding facial recognition policing while circumventing legal safeguards, charging demonstrators with little to no proof of wrongdoing
newlinesmag.com
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
Proud that our investigation with @lighthousereports.com is a finalist for this prestigious award - alongside other amazing, mostly consortium-led projects. A testament to the power of collaboration
gijn.org
Turkey’s EU-Funded Deportation Machine

This collaborative cross-border project showed how the European Union has effectively, and secretly, outsourced its migrant deportation system to an inhumane removals network in Turkey.

https://twp.ai/9PStok
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
The group says it has achieved its aim to take the struggle to the political arena – but it begins at a time when democratic space in #Turkey is shrinking.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
The #PKK has announced it will disband and lay down arms - while the first is unlikely to be undone, the second is a technical process that will take months. Now the ball is in the government's court.
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
Al tribunale di #cağlayan, #Istanbul: quasi 100 studenti e 8 giornalisti a processo per le proteste di #Sarachane. I giornalisti, accusati di aver partecipato alle manifestazioni, dovranno dimostrare… di essere giornalisti. #turchia
Reposted by Ylenia Gostoli
fma-turkey.bsky.social
Well-known investigative journalists Timur Soykan & Murat Ağırel were detained this morning in Turkey after a complaint by suspects in a money laundering case. Their homes were searched & their digital devices confiscated. FMA calls for their release because #JournalismIsNotACrime
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
Statement from our association: "FMA joins international media freedom groups in calling for an end to the crackdown on media in #Turkey, which has incl. police violence, home raids, detentions, & censorship measures that restrict access to news that is in the public interest."
fma-turkey.bsky.social
FMA calls for the release of all journalists detained or arrested for covering ongoing protests in Turkey and an end to these acts of intimidation against a free press. Full statement: fmaturkey.org/journalists-...
yleniagostoli.bsky.social
Eight journalists detained in house raids in #Turkey this morning
mlsaturkey.org
MLSA @mlsaturkey.org · Mar 24
Bu sabah yapılan operasyonlarda NOW Muhabiri Ali Onur Tosun, foto muhabir Bülent Kılıç, gazeteci Zeynep Kuray, AFP muhabiri Yasin Akgül, gazeteci Hayri Tunç, İBB foto muhabiri Kurtuluş Arı, Sendika.org muhabiri Zişan Gür ve BirGün yazarı Barış İnce gözaltına alındı
Sendika.Org - Üreten Biziz Yöneten de Biz Olacağız
Sendika.Org - Üreten Biziz Yöneten de Biz Olacağız
Sendika.org