Taraf

31 results arranged by date

Demonstrators

Drop in jailed Turkish journalists belies a long-simmering press freedom crisis

In CPJ’s 2023 annual prison census, Turkey was the world’s 10th worst jailer of journalists—its most press-friendly ranking in almost a decade—with 13 behind bars, down from 40 the previous year. But the latest numbers don’t tell the full story. Turkey has consistently vied with China for the top slot in CPJ’s list of shame…

Read More ›

Turkish court sentences 4 former Taraf journalists to prison for exposing state secrets

Istanbul, March 7, 2022 – Turkish authorities should drop all charges against former staff members of the shuttered liberal daily Taraf and should free journalist Mehmet Baransu immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On Friday, March 4, the 13th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes convicted four former Taraf employees on national security charges,…

Read More ›

CPJ welcomes release of Turkish journalist Ahmet Altan

Istanbul, April 14, 2021 — Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals today overturned the convictions of journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak, who were found guilty of “aiding a terrorist organization” and sentenced to 10 and a half years and eight years and nine months, respectively, in a 2019 retrial, according to reports and CPJ research. Both journalists had been freed…

Read More ›

A man holds a sign reading 'Writers' freedom is not guaranteed' outside an Istanbul court during a trial connected to the now shuttered paper Özgür Gündem, in December 2016. A court sentenced seven former journalists from the paper to prison on May 21, 2019. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 19, 2019

7 journalists sentenced in Özgür Gündem trial An Istanbul Court on May 21 sentenced seven journalists from the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem to prison after they were convicted of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization,” the Mezopotamya News Agency reported.

Read More ›

Dawn breaks over Istanbul in March 2019. A court in the Turkish city has rejected a stay of execution request from lawyers representing Cumhuriyet staff. (AFP/Yasin Akgul)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 28, 2019

Cumhuriyet appeal rejected by local court An Istanbul court on April 30 rejected a stay of execution request from lawyers representing eight staff from the daily Cumhuriyet, the news website T24 reported. The lawyers asked authorities to not act on a local appeals court ruling that upheld their sentencing until the Supreme Court had ruled…

Read More ›

A campaign billboard for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), pictured in Ankara on March 8. Police on March 19 detained a reporter and questioned her about her work in the capital. (AFP/Adem Altan)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 17, 2019

Evrensel journalist acquitted over Paradise Papers charge An Istanbul court on March 19 acquitted Çağrı Sarı, the former responsible news editor for the leftist daily Evrensel, of insult and libel, her employer reported. The case focused on Evrensel’s coverage of the Paradise Papers in April, which alleged that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak,…

Read More ›

Boys stand on the edges of a vintage tram as it runs along the main shopping and pedestrian street of Istiklal in central Istanbul, Turkey in January 2018. Turkey continues to crackdown on media. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 16, 2018

Journalists in prison An Istanbul court on April 17 arraigned Adil Demirci, a Turkish-German dual national and reporter for the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), on charges of “being a member of a [terrorist] organization” and “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization,” according to the German news agency Deutsche Welle. In the same case, the…

Read More ›

CPJ calls on European Council and European Commission to raise press freedom with Turkey

CPJ calls on the presidents of the European Council and European Commission to request the release of Turkish journalists as a matter of priority during a scheduled meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Varna, Bulgari.

Read More ›

People look at the Bosphorus as they travel in a ferry from the Asian to the European side of Istanbul on March 1, 2018. The Turkish government continues its crackdown on the media. (AFP/ Bulent Kilic)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 26, 2018

Journalists sentenced An Istanbul court on February 28 sentenced Ahmet Altan, the former chief editor for the shuttered daily Taraf, to five years and 11 months in prison for “insulting the [Turkish] president,” and “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization,” the online newspaper Diken reported.

Read More ›

German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel walks after he was released from government detention on February 16, 2018. (Reuters/Huseyin Aldemir)

Turkey sentences 4 journalists to life in prison, releases and indicts another

Istanbul, February 16, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a Turkish court’s decision to sentence four journalists to life in prison without parole, and called on Turkish authorities to release them without delay. In a separate case, Turkey must scrap charges against another journalist who was today released from custody but simultaneously indicted for terrorism…

Read More ›