Committee to Protect Journalists - Turkey tag:cpj.org,2008-09-16://1 2012-05-14T22:05:10Z Movable Type 4.34-en Syria detains journalists, releases others tag:cpj.org,2012://1.19363 2012-05-14T21:49:51Z 2012-05-14T22:05:10Z New York, May 14, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Syria's release of several journalists and press freedom activists over the weekend, but condemns the continued detention of at least nine journalists--and likely several more--including two journalists arrested without charge in the past month.... Committee to Protect Journalists Turkish journalist Adem Özköse, pictured Monday at the Istanbul office of his newspaper Milat, and freelance cameraman Hamit Coşkun were released Saturday from detention in Syria. (AP/Chris Torchia)

New York, May 14, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Syria's release of several journalists and press freedom activists over the weekend, but condemns the continued detention of at least nine journalists--and likely several more--including two journalists arrested without charge in the past month.

]]> Turkey must lift ban on pro-Kurdish daily tag:cpj.org,2012://1.18956 2012-03-26T18:44:33Z 2012-03-26T20:23:46Z Committee to Protect Journalists New York, March 26, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the one-month suspension of pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem, and calls on the Turkish government to allow the newspaper to function. 

]]> Investigation, threats against freed Turkish journalists tag:cpj.org,2012://1.18948 2012-03-22T20:15:15Z 2012-03-22T22:18:23Z New York, March 22, 2012--Turkish authorities must immediately dismiss the new criminal investigation against journalist Ahmet Şık and should thoroughly investigate threats made against Şık and investigative journalist Nedim Şener, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.... Committee to Protect Journalists Journalists Nedim Şener and Ahmet Şık were threatened shortly after their release from prison. Here, colleagues protest the journalists' imprisonment, which lasted more than a year. (AP)

New York, March 22, 2012--Turkish authorities must immediately dismiss the new criminal investigation against journalist Ahmet Şık and should thoroughly investigate threats made against Şık and investigative journalist Nedim Şener, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

]]> Turkey releases journalists, grave concerns remain tag:cpj.org,2012://1.18892 2012-03-12T18:21:00Z 2012-03-12T22:02:21Z New York, March 12, 2012--The release of Turkish journalists Nedim Şener, Ahmet Şık, Muhammet Sait Çakır, and Coşkun Musluk, who are among dozens of journalists imprisoned in Turkey for alleged participation in a purported antistate plot known as Ergenekon, is a welcome development, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.... Committee to Protect Journalists New York, March 12, 2012--The release of Turkish journalists Nedim Şener, Ahmet Şık, Muhammet Sait Çakır, and Coşkun Musluk, who are among dozens of journalists imprisoned in Turkey for alleged participation in a purported antistate plot known as Ergenekon, is a welcome development, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

]]> Turkish prime minister distorts state of press freedom tag:cpj.org,2012://1.18872 2012-03-07T19:34:09Z 2012-03-07T19:43:20Z New York, March 7, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the Turkish prime minister's repeated use of CPJ statistics to misrepresent and undermine the serious repression faced by journalists in Turkey.... Committee to Protect Journalists New York, March 7, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the Turkish prime minister's repeated use of CPJ statistics to misrepresent and undermine the serious repression faced by journalists in Turkey.

]]> Attacks on the Press in 2011: Europe, a Leader That Lags tag:cpj.org,2012://1.17657 2012-02-22T04:22:01Z 2012-02-19T22:29:28Z In the EU, some countries appear more immune than others to scrutiny and reproach. Anti-terror laws, political and economic concerns, and a lack of common standards all challenge the credibility of the EU's diplomacy. By Jean-Paul Marthoz... Committee to Protect Journalists Until his last days in office, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi pursued restrictive legislation known as the 'gag law.' (Reuters/Alessandro Garofalo)

In the EU, some countries appear more immune than others to scrutiny and reproach. Anti-terror laws, political and economic concerns, and a lack of common standards all challenge the credibility of the EU's diplomacy. By Jean-Paul Marthoz

]]> Attacks on the Press in 2011: Turkey's Legal Problem tag:cpj.org,2012://1.17661 2012-02-22T04:19:01Z 2012-02-27T22:26:38Z With the aid of anachronistic legislation and a rigid judiciary, Turkish officials and politicians have curbed free expression by subjecting journalists to endless court proceedings and legal costs. The EU and the U.S. are no help. By Robert Mahoney >> Türkçe... Committee to Protect Journalists Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, buoyed by a landslide election victory, has led an attack on press freedom. (AP/Boris Grdanoski)

With the aid of anachronistic legislation and a rigid judiciary, Turkish officials and politicians have curbed free expression by subjecting journalists to endless court proceedings and legal costs. The EU and the U.S. are no help. By Robert Mahoney

>> Türkçe

]]> Attacks on the Press in 2011: Iran's Vast Diaspora tag:cpj.org,2012://1.17684 2012-02-22T04:18:21Z 2012-02-20T14:21:42Z Journalists who have fled Iran to avoid prison face a tense and lengthy process toward resettlement, an uncertain financial and professional future, and most of all, fear that the Iranian government will catch up with them. By María Salazar-Ferro and Sheryl A. Mendez >> فارسي... Committee to Protect Journalists Journalists who have fled Iran to avoid prison face a tense and lengthy process toward resettlement, an uncertain financial and professional future, and most of all, fear that the Iranian government will catch up with them. By María Salazar-Ferro and Sheryl A. Mendez
>> فارسي

]]> Attacks on the Press in 2011: Journalists In Prison tag:cpj.org,2012://1.17664 2012-02-21T21:41:35Z 2012-02-20T14:25:44Z Iran is the world's worst jailer of the press. Detentions rise in the Middle East and North Africa.... Committee to Protect Journalists Iran is the world's worst jailer of the press. Detentions rise in the Middle East and North Africa.

]]> Further investigation necessary in Hrant Dink murder tag:cpj.org,2012://1.18349 2012-01-17T22:02:31Z 2012-01-17T22:53:45Z New York, January 17, 2012--The conviction of several accomplices in the 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink, then-editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, fails to address the issue of who commissioned the slaying, thus perpetuating impunity in the case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.... Committee to Protect Journalists Friends of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist protest outside a courthouse in Istanbul today. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)

New York, January 17, 2012--The conviction of several accomplices in the 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink, then-editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, fails to address the issue of who commissioned the slaying, thus perpetuating impunity in the case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

]]> CPJ condemns journalist arrests in Turkey tag:cpj.org,2011://1.18261 2011-12-22T14:41:44Z 2012-02-16T16:41:14Z Prime Minister Erdoğan: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to condemn the arrests of as many as 29 journalists in raids on Tuesday as well as the ongoing media repression that has earned Turkey a reputation as one of the world's worst press freedom violators and done grave damage to the consolidation of Turkish democracy. Committee to Protect Journalists [Turkish version follows]

December 22, 2011

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Ceyhun Atıf Kansu Caddesi No. 122
Balgat
Ankara, Turkey

Via facsimile: +90 312 473 64 55

Dear Prime Minister Erdoğan,

The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to condemn the arrests of as many as 29 journalists in raids on Tuesday as well as the ongoing media repression that has earned Turkey a reputation as one of the world's worst press freedom violators and done grave damage to the consolidation of Turkish democracy.

In coordinated raids that stretched from Istanbul to Diyarbakir, and from Ankara to Izmir, police detained 40 individuals, according to state-run media. News reports said many are journalists, although the precise number is not clear. So far, CPJ has been able to identify 29 journalists by name and affiliation, and it continues to examine 11 others. Your government claims that the operation targets "the press and propaganda" arm of the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), but it provides no evidence supporting this assertion. Authorities maintain that the KCK is the "urban wing" of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, a claim that has been widely disputed.

We are even more deeply troubled by this course of action because some in the Turkish media have alleged that a recent CPJ report confirming that eight Turkish journalist have been jailed for their work may have emboldened your government to take action. Indeed, your justice minister cited CPJ's finding in remarks before Parliament on December 8, the newspaper Dünya reported.

Mr. Prime Minister, it would be perverse for your government to take any solace whatsoever from CPJ's conclusion that eight journalists are in jail because of their work. This number--just behind Burma and ahead of Ethiopia--places Turkey firmly in the company of some of the world's most repressive countries and deeply compromises your government's commitments to democracy and the rule of the law. Our list of eight journalists jailed should be seen as a black mark on your record and a source of shame.

Moreover, it is a minimum. CPJ's researchers systematically investigated every one of the estimated 64 journalists in jail in your country on December 1 to determine the reason for their incarceration. While we were able to confirm in eight cases that the charges were related to journalism, we condemn the jailing of every single journalist in Turkey because of pervasive due process violations. In many instances investigated by CPJ, the judicial process itself has been opaque and the charges unsubstantiated.

Our research is ongoing, and we intend to send a delegation to Turkey in 2012 to further review the outstanding cases. We hope that your government will demonstrate its commitment to the transparent application of the law by cooperating with the CPJ delegation. We note with grave concern that we never received a response to our July 25 letter sent to your justice minister and requesting information about the spate of arrests.

Mr. Prime Minister, we urge you to ensure that as a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, Turkey respect its international obligations, in particular by curbing the use of secret evidence against journalists. Your government's record of what amounts to mass incarceration of journalists and media professionals without due process is doing grave damage to your country's reputation as an emerging democratic power. The threat is compounded by the fact that thousands of criminal cases have been opened against journalists across Turkey.

We urge you to amend this record, to commit your government to a transparent and open legal process, and to ensure that no journalists in Turkey are ever jailed for the expression of dissenting ideas.

Sincerely,

Joel Simon
Executive Director

 

CC

Sadullah Ergin, Turkish Minister of Justice

Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Stefan Füle, European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy

Hélène Flautre, Chair of the European Parliament EU-Turkey delegation

Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe


22 Aralık 2011

Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Ceyhun Atıf Kansu Caddesi No:122
Balgat
Ankara, Turkey

Faks ile: +90 312 473 64 55

Sayın Başbakan Erdoğan,

Gazetecileri Koruma Komitesi (CPJ) bu mektubu 29 kadar gazetecinin Salı günkü baskınlarda gözaltına alınmasını olduğu kadar, medyaya süregelen baskıların Türkiye'ye dünyanın en kötü basın hakları ihlalcilerinden biri olma şöhretini kazandırmasını ve Türkiye demokrasisinin sağlamlaşmasına verdiği ölümcül zararı kınamak için yazıyor.

Resmi medyaya göre, polis, İstanbul'dan Diyarbakır'a, Ankara'dan İzmir'e dek uzanan koordine baskınlarla 40 kişiyi tutukladı. Yapılan haberler bakılırsa, tam sayı net olmasa da, bunların çoğunluğu gazetecilerden oluşuyor. CPJ şu ana dek 29 gazeteciyi isimleri ve mesleki bağlantılarıyla tanımladı ve kalan 11 kişiyi incelemeyi sürdürüyor. Hükumetiniz, operasyonun Kürdistan Topluluklar Birliği'nin (KCK) "basın ve propaganda" kolunu hedef aldığını iddia ediyor ancak bu savı destekleyici bir delil sunmuyor. Yetkili çevreler KCK'nın yasadışı Kürdistan İşçi Partisi'nin "şehir yapılanması" olduğunu savunuyorlar; bu Türkiye'de geniş çaplı tartışılan bir iddia.

Bizi bundan da çok rahatsız eden şey ise, Türk medyasından bazı kişilerin kısa süre önce yayınlanan bir CPJ raporunun sekiz Türkiye vatandaşı gazetecinin mesleklerinden dolayı hapiste olduğunu doğruladığını öne sürmelerinin hükumetinizi harekete geçmeye teşvik etmiş olma olasılığı. Dünya gazetesinin haberine göre, adalet bakanınız 8 Aralık günü meclis kürsüsünde CPJ bulgularını kaynak göstererek açıklamalarda bulundu.

Sayın Başbakan, hükumetinizin CPJ'in sekiz gazetecinin mesleklerinden dolayı hapiste oldukları kararına varmış olmasından dolayı herhangi bir şekilde teselli bulması ters olur. Burma'nın gerisinde ve Etiyopya'nın ilerisinde olan bu sayı, Türkiye'yi kesinlikle dünyanın en baskıcı ülkelerinin arasına katıyor ve hükumetinizin demokrasi ile hukukun egemenliğine dair taahhütlerine büyük ölçüde gölge düşürüyor. Sekiz gazetecinin hapsedildiğine dair listemiz sicilinizde kara bir leke ve bir utanç kaynağı olarak görülmeli.

Bunun da ötesinde, o minimum sayı. CPJ'in araştırmacıları, 1 Aralık itibariyle 64 kişi oldukları tahmin edilen, ülkenizdeki hapsedilmiş gazetecilerin her birine dair hapsedilme nedenlerini belirlemeye yönelik sistematik araştırmalar yaptılar. Sekiz davada iddiaların gazetecilikle ilgisini kesin olarak belirlememiş olmakla beraber, yaygın kanuni prosedür ihlallerinden hapsedilen her gazetecinin içinde bulunduğu durumu kınıyoruz. CPJ'in araştırdığı pek çok davada yargısal süreç şeffaf değildi ve iddialar ispatlanmamıştı.

Araştırmamız sürüyor ve 2012 dahilinde öne çıkan davaları daha yakından incelemek üzere Türkiye'ye bir heyet göndermek niyetindeyiz. Hükumetinizin CPJ heyetiyle işbirliği yaparak kanunların şeffaf uygulanışına bağlılığını göstereceğini umut ediyoruz. Adalet bakanınıza tutuklamaların çokluğuna dair bilgi istemek için 25 Temmuz tarihinde gönderdiğimiz mektuba cevap alamadığımızı derin üzüntülerimizle not düşeriz.

Sayın Başbakan, sizi bir Avrupa Konseyi üyesi ve Avrupa İnsan hakları Sözleşmesi imzacısı olan Türkiye'nin uluslararası yükümlülüklerine, özellikle de gazetecilere karşı gizli delillerin kullanılmasını dizginleyerek, saygı göstermesini sağlamanız yönünde teşvik ediyoruz. Hükumetinizin gazetecileri ve profesyonel medya çalışanlarını kanuni esaslar dışında kitle halinde hapsetmeye yönelik sicili, ülkenizin yükselen bir demokratik güç olarak itibarına büyük zarar veriyor. Türkiye'de gazetecilere karşı binlerce ceza davası açılmış olması gerçeği de bu tehlikeyi artırmakta.

Sizi bu sicili düzetmeye, hükumetinizin çabalarını yasal sürecin şeffaf ve açık şekilde işlemesine adamaya ve Türkiye'de hiçbir gazetecinin muhalif görüşler ifade etmekten dolayı asla hapsedilmeyeceğini güvence altına almaya teşvik ediyoruz.


Saygılarımla,

 

Joel Simon

Yetkili Müdür

 

Diğer alıcılar:

Sadullah Ergin, Türkiye Adalet Bakanı

Catherine Ashton, Dış İlişkiler ve Güvenlik Politikasından Sorumlu Yüksek Temsilcisi

Stefan Füle, Avrupa Komisyonu Genişleme ve Komşuluk Politikasından Sorumlu Komiseri

Hélène Flautre, Türkiye-Avrupa Birliği Karma Parlamento Komisyonu Eşbaşkanı

Thomas Hammarberg, Avrupa Konseyi İnsan Hakları Komiseri

]]> Turkey must justify widespread arrests of journalists tag:cpj.org,2011://1.18249 2011-12-20T22:40:00Z 2011-12-20T22:37:41Z New York, December 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports of the arrests of journalists in a nationwide sweep today in Turkey, and calls on authorities to immediately disclose the names of those detained along with any charges being filed against them.... Committee to Protect Journalists AFP photographer Mustafa Ozer is detained at his home in Istanbul. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)

New York, December 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports of the arrests of journalists in a nationwide sweep today in Turkey, and calls on authorities to immediately disclose the names of those detained along with any charges being filed against them.

]]> Journalists held without due process in Turkey tag:cpj.org,2011://1.17641 2011-07-25T19:44:52Z 2011-07-25T20:21:40Z Dear Minister Ergin: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the rights of journalists worldwide, is alarmed by the ongoing detention of journalists in Turkey. We are also concerned by the large number of criminal cases opened against reporters under the sweeping provisions of the Turkish Criminal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act. Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ concerned about rash of journalist arrests in Turkey tag:cpj.org,2011://1.16899 2011-03-07T23:16:15Z 2011-03-07T23:24:42Z New York, March 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the wave of journalist arrests in Turkey in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government known as "Ergenekon." At least 12 journalists have been detained in less than a month; and at least nine are... Committee to Protect Journalists Two leading investigative journalists, Ahmet Sik, far left, and Nedim Sener, center, arrive at court in Istanbul. (AP/Ozan Guzelce, Milliyet)

New York, March 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the wave of journalist arrests in Turkey in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government known as "Ergenekon." At least 12 journalists have been detained in less than a month; and at least nine are currently in custody, according to international news reports. 

]]> Attacks on the Press 2010: Middle East and North Africa Analysis tag:cpj.org,2011://1.16615 2011-02-15T05:51:00Z 2011-02-15T14:56:00Z Suppression Under the Cover of National Security By Mohamed Abdel Dayem Relying on an extensive network of sources in the military, government, and Islamist groups, Yemeni freelance journalist Abdulelah Shaea had become a frequent and pointed critic of the administration's counterterrorism efforts. By July, President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government... Committee to Protect Journalists Suppression Under the Cover of National Security A police trooper stands guard on a police vehicle outside a state security court in Sanaa, Yemen. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

By Mohamed Abdel Dayem

Relying on an extensive network of sources in the military, government, and Islamist groups, Yemeni freelance journalist Abdulelah Shaea had become a frequent and pointed critic of the administration's counterterrorism efforts. By July, President Ali Abdullah Saleh's government had enough, dispatching security agents to seize and roughly interrogate Shaea for several hours about his reporting.

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