Europe & Central Asia

  
Demonstrators in central Istanbul protest the detention of three people on charges arising from their participation in a show of solidarity with pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem, June 21, 2016. Police on August 16 raided the newspaper's offices and detained at least 21 journalists following a court order temporarily shuttering the newspaper. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Turkish newspaper closed, journalists detained in police raid

New York, August 16, 2016–Turkish authorities should immediately drop all charges against the country’s oldest pro-Kurdish daily newspaper, Özgür Gündem, and its staff, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Following a court order shuttering the newspaper, police in Istanbul today raided Özgür Gündem’s office and detained at least 21 journalists, according to news reports.

Read More ›

A screenshot shows the August 19, 2016, front page of Özgür Gündem newspaper, released as a special edition of the socialist weekly Atılım, bearing the headline "Resistance continues."

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 14

Released journalists describe beatings in custody, headline ‘Resistance continues’ Journalists from the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem, the pro-Kurdish DİHA news agency and broadcaster IMC TV released yesterday alleged that police beat and mistreated them in custody, Özgür Gündem reported on its website, which continues to publish despite a court order temporarily closing the newspaper.…

Read More ›

Participants in an August 7, 2016, pro-government rally in Istanbul wear masks depicting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 7, 2016

Police detain 42 employees of state broadcaster The official Anatolia News Agency reported today that police detained 42 employees of state broadcaster TRT on suspicion of affiliation with the Hizment movement, which the Turkish government alleges orchestrated a July 15 failed military coup. Anatolia did not named the detainees or their positions at TRT but…

Read More ›

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leaves a press conference in Ankara, July 20, 2016 (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 31

Court indicts 12 media workers on terrorism charges An Istanbul court last night indicted 12 journalists on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization — the Hizmet movement, which the Turkish government classes as a terrorist group and alleges orchestrated a failed military coup on July 15 – Turkey’s official Anatolia news agency…

Read More ›

Turkey detains at least 48 journalists in one week

New York, July 29, 2016–Turkish authorities should release and drop all charges against 48 journalists police have detained in the last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police have detained at least 48 journalists in the past week as part of a sweeping purge of the media, according to local press reports.

Read More ›

Turkey shutters more than 100 media outlets as purge continues

New York, July 28, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Turkish authorities today to stop its sweeping purge of the media, and to allow all journalists to work freely at this critical time for the country. A decree published yesterday in Turkey’s Official Gazette ordered the closure of more than 100 broadcasters, newspapers,…

Read More ›

Turkey issues at least 42 arrest warrants for journalists

New York, July 25, 2016–Turkish authorities should cease using a failed coup attempt as a pretext for purging critical journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In the latest in a series of moves against the media, police have issued arrest warrants for at least 42 journalists, Turkey’s official Anatolia news agency (AA) reported…

Read More ›

In this July 24, 2016, handout photo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gives the Rabaa salute, a reference to Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawaya Square, where Egyptian soldiers and police in August 2013 killed hundreds of supporters of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi protesting the military's ousting of the Egyptian president in July 2013. (Pool/AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 24

At least 48 journalists detained in one week Police in Turkey detained at least 48 journalists in the past week, according to the independent news website P24 and the Twitter account of Ben Gazeteciyim, a volunteer association of Turkish journalists formed to show solidarity with their threatened colleagues. At the time of publication, 21 of…

Read More ›

Remembering Pavel Sheremet, IPFA honoree, friend to CPJ, and hard-nosed journalist

Pavel Sheremet, who died yesterday when a bomb blew up the car he was driving in Kiev, was a CPJ International Press Freedom awardee in 1998. At the awards ceremony in the glittery Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that November, Sheremet was a no show.

Read More ›

Flowers and a portrait of Pavel Sheremet mark the site of the journalist's murder in Kiev, July 20, 2016. (Sergei Chusavkov/AP)

Journalist Pavel Sheremet killed in Ukraine car bombing

New York, July 20, 2016 — Ukrainian authorities must credibly investigate the murder of award-winning journalist Pavel Sheremet and ensure all those responsible are swiftly brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sherement, 44, was killed in Kiev today after an explosive device detonated under the car he was driving.

Read More ›