As the main political correspondent in Ankara for the left-wing Kemalist daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, he wrote a regular column called Gözlem which he took over from the prominent investigative journalist Ugur Mumcu, who was assassinated in 1993.

Balbay was arrested on March 5, 2009 as an Ergenekon suspect[1] in the Odatv case, and in August 2009 he was sentenced to 34 years and eight months.

Mustafa Balbay began his journalistic career in 1980 as a student reporter for a local newspaper called Gazete Izmir.

[2] He was initially detained on July 1, 2008, brought to Istanbul, and questioned about his news coverage and his relations with the military and other Ergenekon suspects.

However, Balbay was detained a second time in March 2009 and placed at Silivri F Type Prison in Istanbul pending trial.

[4] The evidence against Balbay consisted of documents seized from his property and office, the news stories he produced, wiretapped telephone conversations, and secretly recorded meetings with senior military and government officials.

In columns written from prison and in court hearings, he has repeatedly said that the seized notes and recorded conversations related to his journalistic activities.