This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined an international press freedom mission to Turkey that met with journalists, civil society, diplomats, the judiciary, and government officials. The visiting delegation voiced concern about the continued crackdown on journalists in the country and the need for the authorities to protect a free press, address inconsistencies and flaws in the trials of journalists, and release those detained unfairly. Despite some cautious optimism, like yesterday’s release of five former staffers of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, the mission found that the environment for journalists remains highly restrictive.
Turkey is the world’s worst jailer of journalists, with at least 68 in jail in direct relation to their work at the time of CPJ’s 2018 prison census.
Read the full text of the mission’s findings here.