Pelin Ünker

{{main|Paradise Papers}}

The sons of Turkey's prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, described as "close friends" of Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, are listed in the papers as having business interests in tax havens. The sons, both doing maritime business, officially set up two companies in Malta, to avoid high Turkish tax rates. Both of the companies are registered under the names of the two sons, with the older son Erkam Yıldırım having more shares than the younger son Bülent Yıldırım in both companies. The companies, named Hawke Bay Marine Co. Ltd.(founded in 2004) and Black Eagle Marine Co. Ltd.(founded in 2007) are "active" in the available detailed data.{{cite news|title=Paradise Belgeleri: Zenginler ve siyasetçilerin off-shore sırları|url=http://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-41880182|accessdate=15 November 2017|publisher=BBC Türkçe|date=6 November 2017|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114202158/http://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-41880182|archivedate=14 November 2017}} One of the companies shared an address with a company that won a $7 million government contract.

The brothers, although publicly acknowledging those facts,{{Cite web|url=https://pen.org/press-release/prison-sentence-pelin-unker-brazen-assault-investigative-journalism/|title=13-month Prison Sentence for Pelin Ünker A Brazen Assault on Investigative Journalism|date=15 January 2019|website=PEN America|language=en|access-date=1 October 2019}} sued journalist Pelin Ünker and the newspaper Cumhuriyet in 2018 after they published the story describing their involvement. In January 2019 a Turkish court sentenced Ünker to thirteen months in jail for "defamation and insult of public official", and separately fined the newspaper for "insult".{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/turkish-court-dismisses-case-against-dw-contributor-pelin-unker/a-48099239|title=Turkish court dismisses case against DW contributor Pelin Unker|website=DW.COM|language=en-GB|access-date=1 October 2019}} The ICIJ's director, Gerard Ryle, criticized the sentence as an attack on free speech. She is the only journalist in the world sentenced for writing about the Paradise Papers investigation.{{Cite web|url=https://boingboing.net/2019/01/09/free-pelin-unker.html|title=Someone's finally going to jail over the Panama Papers: a Turkish journalist who reported true facts from them|date=9 January 2019|website=Boing Boing|language=en-US|access-date=1 October 2019}} Her sentencing has also been criticized by others, including the Netherlands Helsinki Committee and PEN America. Her prison sentence was overturned on appeal due to a statute of limitations, but the fine was allowed to stand.{{cite web|url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/turkish-journalist-spared-jail-for-paradise-papers-investigation/ |title=Turkish journalist spared jail for Paradise Papers investigation |author=Will Fitzgibbon |publisher=International Consortium of Investigative Journalists |date=6 May 2019}}

Ünker has also been sued by Berat Albayrak, Turkey's finance and treasury minister and the president's son-in-law, first over her reporting on him related to Panama Papers, and later, about his connection with the Paradise Papers revelations. Both of those lawsuits were also dismissed.{{Cite web|url=https://apps.derstandard.at/privacywall/story/2000102646128/tuerkisches-gericht-annulliert-haftstrafe-gegen-journalistinpelin-uenker|title=Türkisches Gericht hebt Haftstrafe für Journalistin Pelin Ünker auf |website=DER STANDARD|language=de-AT|access-date=1 October 2019}}

The Netherlands Helsinki Committee concluded that "Because of her reporting on tax evasion schemes of Turkey's powerful, it is no longer possible for Ünker to work in Turkish mainstream media", stressing the problems surrounding freedom of the press issues in Turkey. Following the incident, in March 2019 the One Free Press Coalition included her in the list of world's ten most endangered journalists.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2019/03/15/supporting-the-truth-tellersintroducing-the-one-free-press-coalition-and-the-10-most-urgent-list-of-endangered-journalists/|title=Supporting The Truth Tellers—Introducing The One Free Press Coalition And The 10 Most Urgent List Of Endangered Journalists|last=Lane|first=Randall|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=1 October 2019}} In April 2019 the Investigative Reporters and Editors awarded her the Don Bolles Medal for courage.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ire.org/archives/37901|title=Turkish journalist Pelin Ünker awarded IRE's Don Bolles Medal for courage|date=4 June 2019|website=IRE|language=en-US|access-date=1 October 2019}}

{{main|FinCEN Files}}

In 2020, thousands of documents from the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have been leaked to BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Pelin Ünker worked on the FinCEN Files as part of the ICIJ team. The serie was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the International Reporting category in 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/buzzfeed-news-and-international-consortium-investigative-journalists-washington-dc|title=Finalist: BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Washington, D.C.|date=2021|website=pulitzer.org|language=en-US|access-date=20 August 2022}}

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• {{in lang|tr}} [http://www.pelinunker.com/ Pelin Ünker blog]

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Category:Turkish women journalists

Category:Paradise Papers

Category:Mass media freedom in Turkey

Category:20th-century births

Category:Cumhuriyet people

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)