Launched in May 1992, the newspaper was known for its extensive reporting on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, and was regularly accused of making propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
They include:[3] Yeni Ülke was quite successful and reached about 50'000 readers, which caused the PKK to encourage the foundation of a daily newspaper which would be the Özgür Gündem.
[10] Before, on the 23 December 1993, the spokesperson of the Turkish government Yildirim Aktuna assured to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that since Özgür Gündem was still publishing, it was a sign that press freedom existed in Turkey.
[10] Its publisher Yaşar Kaya, who was also chair of political party DEP received a 4 years sentence accused of separatism the 18 February 1994 due to a speech he held at a KDP congress in Erbil on 15 August 1993.
[20] On 23 December 2011, nine Özgür Gündem staff members were arrested in a raid on the office by the Istanbul police, who accused the nine of links to the PKK.
[22] On 24 March 2012, the 14th High Criminal Court of Istanbul decided for a publication ban of one month under the allegations of "propaganda for an illegal organization".
[23] The Committee to Protect Journalists stated that it was "outraged" at the ban, describing it as part of a pattern of "trumped-up charges to silence press outlets that cover sensitive issues".
[22] Responding to this and other criticisms, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin stated that a pending government-backed judicial reform package would, among numerous other provisions, prevent such bans in the future.
[24] The Ministry of Justice, in a statement on 27 March 2012, announced that the closing-down of press and media organizations will be rendered impossible following the adoption of the "package for the speeding up the judicial services," which was submitted to the Turkish Grand National Assembly in January 2012.
[25] At least seven editors and writers associated with the pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem (The Free Agenda) were among 27 journalists still being held in August 2012 after being arrested in a massive government sweep on 20 and 21 December 2011.
[27] On the 3 May 2016, several prominent journalists initiated a solidarity campaign with the newspaper and each one assumed for a day the post of a so-called Editor-in-Chief on Watch for Özgür Gündem.
[29] On 16 August 2016 the 8th Magistrates Court of Istanbul ordered a "temporary shutdown"[30] of the Özgür Gündem publication on grounds of publishing "terror propaganda" allegedly supporting the PKK.
[32] The paper was quickly succeeded by Özgürlükçü Demokrasi ("Libertarian democracy"), which saw its first issue on 23 August 2016 and features a daily column "Aslı's Friends".
[29] The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has repeatedly passed judgments on convictions and bans around Özgür Gündem and its successors and articles published there.