KRT TV owner files complaint against 17 journalists who stopped work over unpaid wages
Fırat Bozfırat, owner of the pro-opposition broadcaster KRT, has filed a criminal complaint against 17 employees who stopped working in May 2025 over their unpaid receivables, daily Evrensel reported.
Bozfırat accused the media workers struggling for their unpaid wages of "threats," "slander," "inciting the public to hatred and hostility," "violating the privacy of private life," "unlawfully giving or acquiring data," and "disturbing the peace and tranquility of individuals," according to the report.
The file claimed that some employees of KRT TV, owned by Fırat Bozfırat, publicly shared video recordings regarding salary payments, that these posts contained incomplete and misleading information, and that the commercial reputation of the owner was damaged.
Court blocks access to news about journalists' wage protests at KRT TV
The posts were defined in Bozfırat's application as "provocative, containing threats, slander, and incitement of the public to hatred and hostility, and violating his private life." The application claimed, "It is clear that such public and misleading posts fail good-faith resolution efforts and harm our client's corporate reputation."
News reports and posts by news websites that made the voices of the media workers heard, including Evrensel, BirGün, T24, Medyascope, Cumhuriyet, and soL, were also presented as evidence in the criminal complaint.
BIA Media Monitoring Reports
'Attempt to criminalize sseking rights'
One of the KRT employees, Fatih Yapıcı, stated that their struggle for rights continues in the court process. "Only my two-month salary receivable was paid, the promises made were not kept," he said, describing the complaint as an attempt to "criminalize seeking rights."
Recalling the confession of the company lawyer at the time, who said, "I cannot deceive you any longer," Yapıcı said, "Our struggle for rights that we started continues at the courthouse doors one year later. The channel was locked down, workers were first put on unpaid leave and then completely dismissed. While two of our salaries were paid in installments during this process, we continued to seek our rights in court for our other receivables, including meal money."
Background
The process started after 158 media workers employed at KRT were not paid their salaries and meal fees for two months and the editorial process was not run properly, turning into a work stoppage on Jun 4, 2025.
The employees used their right to "refrain from working," stopping the broadcast of the channel and switching to recorded broadcasting.
The resistance concluded with gains on its 21st day. A portion of the payments was made, while the rest was tied to a schedule. However, KRT employees say that despite approximately one year having passed, the promises made have not been kept.
Additionally, KRT TV owner Fırat Bozfırat was the subject of the news stories during the process. The reports drew attention to Bozfırat's close relations with ruling circles.
Bozfırat also had access to news reports regarding the salary protest of the employees and criticisms against the management blocked by a court decision on grounds of "national security" and "public order."
