A seminar titled “Which direction is Turkey going?” was held in the Freedom of Expression Building in Norwegian capital Oslo. The seminar was organised by Norwegian Editors Association, Journalists Society, Press Union, University of Oslo, Publishers Union and Freedom of Expression and PEN Norway. PEN International Vice President Eugene Schoulgin attended the seminar as a speaker while the speakers from Turkey were Freedom of Thought and Expression Initiative Spokesperson Şaner Yurdatapan and journalist Ragıp Zarakolu.

“SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS LIES IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE KURDS”

In the seminar, it was pointed out that the AKP government saw the July 15 coup attempt as an opportunity to arrest thousands of academics, journalists and publishers and close off media outlets, while they wanted to silence all opposition with allegations of “terrorist, coup supporter” through the emergency laws. Şanar Yurdatapan screened a short film about the dictatorial practices of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and talked about the massacrist policies imposed upon the Kurds. Yurdatapan mentioned the trustees appointed to DBP municipalities and underlined that the solution to the problems in Turkey lied in negotiations with the Kurds.

“PKK SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE TERROR LIST”

PEN International Vice President Eugene Schoulgin said they were following Turkey closely and that the solution to the problems was negotiations with the Kurds. Schoulgin also emphasized that the EU and the US should remove the PKK from their terror lists.

“ALL ARRESTED JOURNALISTS MUST BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY”

Journalist Ragıp Zarakolu pointed out the pressure on opposition journalists and newspapers in Turkey and expressed that the greatest of all the pressure was on Özgür Gündem newspaper and Kurdish journalists. Zarakolu reiterated that all arrested journalists must be released immediately.

The seminar ended with a Q&A session.