Turkey

2016

  

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 25, continued

Investigative reporter arrested on propaganda charges The prominent investigative journalist Ahmet Şık was arrested yesterday on allegations of spreading terrorist propaganda. Şık, who was detained in relation to his published writings and posts on social media, was also accused of “publicly humiliating the Republic of Turkey, its judicial organs; military and police organizations,” Cumhuriyet reported.…

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Turkey's deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, pictured in January 2016, said at a news conference this week that the media should be careful while covering sensitive issues. (Adem Altan/AFP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 25

Investigative reporter arrested on propaganda charges The prominent investigative journalist Ahmet Şık was arrested yesterday on allegations of spreading terrorist propaganda. Şık, who was detained in relation to his published writings and posts on social media, was also accused of “publicly humiliating the Republic of Turkey, its judicial organs; military and police organizations,” Cumhuriyet reported.…

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People use an internet cafe in Ankara, April 16, 2015. Turkish authorities have censored social media and news websites, and have sought to block access to tools for circumventing that censorship. (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 18

Court confiscates assets of 54 journalists Istanbul’s 11th Court of Penal Peace court confiscated the assets of 54 journalists, media workers, and writers, saying there was a “strong suspicion” that they were followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom the Turkish government accuses of maintaining a terrorist organization and “parallel state structure” (FETÖ/PDY, by its…

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How CPJ researches the killing and jailing of journalists

Who is a journalist? In the era of citizen journalism, activist journalism and now “fake” journalism, the question is not academic. The Committee to Protect Journalists has just published its annual census of journalists in prison and next week it will release its survey of killed journalists.

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President François Hollande speaks at the opening of the Open Government Partnership summit in Paris in December, where press freedom was added to the agenda. (Jacky Naegelen/Pool/AFP)

Press freedom on OGP agenda as authoritarianism rises

There was poignancy to the Paris summit of the Open Government Partnership, as leaders from government and civil society took the stage to defend a political ideology under siege: liberal democracy. French President François Hollande, who amid weak public support announced he will not seek re-election in 2017, called democracy “so fragile and so precious.”…

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Seen through a Turkish flag, people gather outside Istanbul's Vodafone Stadium to pay respects to those killed in a bombing, December 11, 2016. Turkish authorities imposed a ban on coverage of the attack. (AP/Emrah Gurel)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 11

Columnist jailed pending ‘insult’ trial for remarks on Syria Istanbul’s Ninth Court of Penal Peace this evening ordered Hüsnü Mahalli, a columnist for the leftist newspaper Yurt, jailed pending trial on charges of “insulting the president” and “insulting a board of civil servants in the course of discharging their duties,” the official Anatolia Agency reported.

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Journalists and activists march for press freedom in Ankara, March 19, 2011. (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 4

Wire reporter released pending conclusion of trial Mardin’s Second Court for Serious Crimes today released Zehra Doğan, a reporter for the shuttered news agency JİNHA, pending the conclusion of her trial, which began today, the pro-Kurdish Dihaber news agency reported. Police detained Doğan on July 22, and a court arraigned her on terrorism charges on…

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Can Dündar, the exiled editor of Cumhuriyet newspaper, is pictured in Berlin, November 4, 2016.(Reuters/Axel Schmidt)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 27

Wire reporter releasedPolice in southeastern Mardin province today released Fethi Balaman, the leftist daily newspaper Evrensel reported. Police on November 29 detained the former reporter for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency, which the government on October 31 ordered closed by emergency decree. [December 1, 2016]

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses farmers in Ankara, November 14, 2016. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Service/Pool/AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 20

After six months, wire reporter released pending trial Hakkari’s Second Court for Serious Crimes today ordered Şermin Soydan, a reporter for the shuttered pro-Kurdish DİHA news agency, released on probation the leftist newspaper Evrensel reported.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gestures during an interview in New York, September 20, 2016. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 13

Two years in prison for newspaper editor Diyarbakır’s Fourth Court for Serious Crimes yesterday sentenced İsmail Çoban, responsible news editor of the Kurdish-language daily newspaper Azadiya Welat to two years and four months in prison for “propagandizing for a [terrorist] organization,” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the Turkish government classifies as a terrorist group.

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2016