CPJ report on press in Turkey
CPJ report on press in Turkey
The Committee to Protect Journalists released a report about attacks on the press in Turkey in 2010. The report underlined unlawful practices regarding murdered journalist Hrant Dink’s case and trials against journalists, while drawing attention on authorities’ use anti-terror, defamation and security laws to prosecute journalists and EU critics press record, citing prosecutions, insufficient legal guarantees.
Here is some excerpt from the report:
Authorities paraded journalists into court on anti-terror, criminal defamation, and state security charges as they tried to suppress critical news and commentary on issues involving national identity, the Kurdish minority, and an alleged anti-government conspiracy. The European Court of Human Rights found that Turkish authorities bore culpability in the 2007 slaying of editor Hrant Dink, even as the government struggled to bring anyone to justice in the murder.
In September, voters approved a package of constitutional changes the government said would strengthen democracy and bring Turkey in line with European norms, but the reforms failed to address severe limits on press freedom. Article 26 of the Turkish Constitution, while addressing the right of free expression, places a litany of restrictions on its use, including national security, public safety, territorial integrity, crime prevention, individual dignity, and professional secrets. The European Union broadly criticized Turkey's press freedom record in its annual assessment of the country's now-lagging accession bid. The report, issued in November, found that Turkish law insufficiently guarantees free expression and that authorities exert undue political pressure on news media. It faulted authorities for prosecuting journalists for expressing nonviolent opinions and raised particular concerns about the high number of criminal cases brought against journalists reporting on the anti-government plot known as the Ergenekon affair.
Anti-terror legislation, which provides for harsh prison penalties and fines, was used against numerous critical journalists, many of them writing about Kurdish issues and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The government's treatment of the country's 14 million ethnic Kurds, most living in the east and southeast, has long been a focus of international criticism and domestic sensitivity. Forcibly assimilated into Turkish society in the 1930s, ethnic Kurds have sought greater political, linguistic, and cultural rights through both peaceful and armed means. Reporting in neutral or favorable terms about the PKK--considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States--has itself been interpreted by Turkish authorities as a terrorist activity.
Authorities used anti-terror laws, for example, to prosecute Irfan Aktan, a veteran journalist for the biweekly Express, after a 2009 piece noted that PKK members were skeptical of government changes geared toward greater cultural rights for Kurds. In June, an Istanbul court sentenced the journalist to 15 months in prison and fined his editor, Merve Erol, 16,660 Turkish liras (US$10,393). Aktan was free in late year pending appeal. Vedat Kurþun, editorial manager of Azadiya Welat, faced a much harsher fate: He was sentenced in May to 166 years and six months' imprisonment on charges of spreading propaganda for the PKK. The charge stems from Azadiya Welat articles that were supportive of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, describing him as a "martyr" and "leader of the Kurdish people." Defense lawyer Meral Danýþ Beþtaþ said Kurþun had expressed a point of view as a journalist that did not constitute a crime, the Turkish press freedom group Bia reported.
Kurþun was one of at least four journalists behind bars in Turkey when CPJ conducted its annual census of imprisoned journalists on December 1. All were charged under anti-terror laws with spreading propaganda for the PKK. "The Kurdish issue continues to be taboo," Bia analyst Erol Önderoðlu told CPJ. "Whether they are mainstream or opposition Kurdish media, they are being convicted and given prison sentences because of their publications."
Covering alleged human rights violations against the Kurdish population constituted another redline, as reflected in the case of Jake Hess, a 25-year-old American journalist and contributor to the Inter Press Ser-vice. On August 11, Hess was detained in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir after he was named in an indictment against a minority-rights group. Defense lawyer Serkan Akbas told CPJ that Hess wrote articles in July and August detailing alleged Turkish army violations against Kurds, including arson attacks and violence against women. Hess was deported after nine days in custody and banned from re-entering the country.
The European Court ruled in September that Turkey failed to protect the life and free expression rights of the Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink, who was shot outside his office in 2007 after receiving numerous death threats.
To read more: http://cpj.org/2011/02/attacks-on-the-press-2010-turkey.php
Here is some excerpt from the report:
Authorities paraded journalists into court on anti-terror, criminal defamation, and state security charges as they tried to suppress critical news and commentary on issues involving national identity, the Kurdish minority, and an alleged anti-government conspiracy. The European Court of Human Rights found that Turkish authorities bore culpability in the 2007 slaying of editor Hrant Dink, even as the government struggled to bring anyone to justice in the murder.
In September, voters approved a package of constitutional changes the government said would strengthen democracy and bring Turkey in line with European norms, but the reforms failed to address severe limits on press freedom. Article 26 of the Turkish Constitution, while addressing the right of free expression, places a litany of restrictions on its use, including national security, public safety, territorial integrity, crime prevention, individual dignity, and professional secrets. The European Union broadly criticized Turkey's press freedom record in its annual assessment of the country's now-lagging accession bid. The report, issued in November, found that Turkish law insufficiently guarantees free expression and that authorities exert undue political pressure on news media. It faulted authorities for prosecuting journalists for expressing nonviolent opinions and raised particular concerns about the high number of criminal cases brought against journalists reporting on the anti-government plot known as the Ergenekon affair.
Anti-terror legislation, which provides for harsh prison penalties and fines, was used against numerous critical journalists, many of them writing about Kurdish issues and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The government's treatment of the country's 14 million ethnic Kurds, most living in the east and southeast, has long been a focus of international criticism and domestic sensitivity. Forcibly assimilated into Turkish society in the 1930s, ethnic Kurds have sought greater political, linguistic, and cultural rights through both peaceful and armed means. Reporting in neutral or favorable terms about the PKK--considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States--has itself been interpreted by Turkish authorities as a terrorist activity.
Authorities used anti-terror laws, for example, to prosecute Irfan Aktan, a veteran journalist for the biweekly Express, after a 2009 piece noted that PKK members were skeptical of government changes geared toward greater cultural rights for Kurds. In June, an Istanbul court sentenced the journalist to 15 months in prison and fined his editor, Merve Erol, 16,660 Turkish liras (US$10,393). Aktan was free in late year pending appeal. Vedat Kurþun, editorial manager of Azadiya Welat, faced a much harsher fate: He was sentenced in May to 166 years and six months' imprisonment on charges of spreading propaganda for the PKK. The charge stems from Azadiya Welat articles that were supportive of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, describing him as a "martyr" and "leader of the Kurdish people." Defense lawyer Meral Danýþ Beþtaþ said Kurþun had expressed a point of view as a journalist that did not constitute a crime, the Turkish press freedom group Bia reported.
Kurþun was one of at least four journalists behind bars in Turkey when CPJ conducted its annual census of imprisoned journalists on December 1. All were charged under anti-terror laws with spreading propaganda for the PKK. "The Kurdish issue continues to be taboo," Bia analyst Erol Önderoðlu told CPJ. "Whether they are mainstream or opposition Kurdish media, they are being convicted and given prison sentences because of their publications."
Covering alleged human rights violations against the Kurdish population constituted another redline, as reflected in the case of Jake Hess, a 25-year-old American journalist and contributor to the Inter Press Ser-vice. On August 11, Hess was detained in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir after he was named in an indictment against a minority-rights group. Defense lawyer Serkan Akbas told CPJ that Hess wrote articles in July and August detailing alleged Turkish army violations against Kurds, including arson attacks and violence against women. Hess was deported after nine days in custody and banned from re-entering the country.
The European Court ruled in September that Turkey failed to protect the life and free expression rights of the Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink, who was shot outside his office in 2007 after receiving numerous death threats.
To read more: http://cpj.org/2011/02/attacks-on-the-press-2010-turkey.php
