The Committee to Protect Journalists joined five press freedom groups on Friday in a joint statement calling on the authorities in Turkey to ensure that journalist Alican Uludağ is safe, as he has been receiving online threats since he was publicly targeted by two politicians from the government-allied Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) because of his reporting.
The MHP officials targeted Uludağ on X, formally known as Twitter, on October 10, following the journalist’s reporting on a controversial murder published by his employer, the Turkish service of the German Broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Uludağ received several online threats after the fact, according to reports and the journalist’s post on X.
“Politicians, in particular, have a responsibility to avoid online harassment of critical journalists which, unchecked, can quickly lead to violence,” the joint statement said and called on Turkish authorities “to guarantee that journalists are able to do their work free of intimidation and harassment.”
Read the joint statement here.