Turkey
2018
The path(s) to justice in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder
In an emotional address to Turkey’s parliament today, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a savage and premeditated act and demanded that Saudi officials be brought to Turkey to stand trial. Most of the information about the investigation that has emerged has come through leaks to the Turkish…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of October 11
Journalists in court An Istanbul court on October 16 asked Interpol to issue a “red notice” warrant for the exiled journalists Can Dündar and İlhan Tanır, according to reports. Dündar and Tanır were defendants in the trial against the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, until their cases were separated from the main trial on April 25, when…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of October 4, 2018
Journalist sentenced to over 7 years in jail A court in the eastern Muş city on October 10 sentenced Seda Taşkın, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency (MA), to a total of seven years and six months in prison, her employer reported. Taşkın attended the hearing via teleconference from the Sincan Women’s Prison,…
CPJ calls on Saudi Arabia to account for Jamal Khashoggi’s whereabouts
New York, October 6, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Saudi Arabia to immediately account for the whereabouts of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Multiple news outlets reported today that Turkish authorities, who have been investigating his disappearance…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 27, 2018
Erdoğan in Germany A Turkish man wearing a “freedom for journalists” T-shirt was thrown out of a press conference between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on September 28, video from Euronews and Özgürüz showed. The man was identified as Adil Yiğit, chief editor for the Turkish language news website…
Turkish court upholds life sentences without parole for four journalists
Istanbul, October 3, 2018–An Istanbul court of appeals yesterday upheld the sentences of life in prison without parole handed to four prominent Turkish journalists in February, media reported. Mehmet Altan, his brother Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, and Fevzi Yazıcı were convicted of having links to the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey accuses of being…
CPJ expresses concern for Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Beirut, October 3, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who has been living in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 2017, and urges Saudi authorities to immediately disclose his whereabouts. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a former editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan who…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 14, 2018
Court finds journalists guilty of making propaganda for terrorists A court on September 19 found the directors of the shuttered socialist television channel Hayatın Sesi TV guilty of making propaganda for terrorist organisations, the daily Evrensel reported.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 10, 2018
Turkey detains Austrian writer Austrian citizen Max Zirngast, a contributor to several magazines and a student of political science, according to the OSCE, was detained by anti-terrorism police in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, on September 11, Deutsche Welle reported. Deutsche Welle quoted a tweet of German magazine re:volt–one of his employers–as saying that Zirngast was taken…