Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

  
Journalists and press-freedom advocates release balloons outside the Istanbul courthouse where 17 employees and board members of the newspaper Cumhuriyet went on trial, July 24, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Trial of 17 Cumhuriyet newspaper employees begins in Turkey

New York, July 24, 2017–The trial of 17 journalists, managers, and board members of the pro-opposition daily newspaper Cumhuriyet on terrorism-related charges is a further blow to press freedom in Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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President Erdogan waves to supporters during an event in Istanbul to mark the one-year anniversary of Turkey's failed coup attempt. A news editor was detained on July 15 over a column on the government's response to the failed coup. (Presidency Press Service via AP/Pool)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 16, 2017

Germany says Turkey offered prisoner swap for jailed journalist German daily Bild cited an unnamed German diplomatic source as saying that Turkey offered to exchange imprisoned journalist Deniz Yücel for two former generals who sought asylum in Germany. Germany’s foreign ministry rejected the offer, the anonymous source told Bild. Turkey has not commented publicly on…

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Can Dündar in Berlin, November 4, 2016 (Reuters/Axel Schmidt)

Turkish media in exile? Think again

Freedom is like air or water: something you appreciate only when it’s gone. Freedom for Turkish journalists was never as abundant as air or water–but nor was it ever as scarce as it has become in the last year.

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People stand atop a military tank at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, in the early hours of July 16, 2016. (Reuters/Huseyin Aldemir)

A year after attempted coup in Turkey, media landscape purged of critical voices

The history of modern Turkish politics is rife with military intervention–the army has toppled elected governments four times since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the modern Turkish state in 1923, and has strong-armed them into submission countless other times. One of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s greatest accomplishments has been returning the military to the barracks and…

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A man with a Turkish flag walks over the word "Adelet," or "Justice," at a July 9, 2017, rally in Istanbul organized by the country's largest opposition party to protest the arrest of lawmaker and former editor Enis Berberoğlu. (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 9, 2017

Police detain two journalists Police in the southern Turkish province of Hatay detained Erdoğan Alayumat and Nuri Akman, two correspondents for the pro-Kurdish news website Dihaber last night as they worked, their employer reported today. Police detained them on a complaint that they were “suspicious,” according to the report. A third individual, İsa Nuri Demir,…

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Thousands of opposition supporters pass through Izmit, Turkey, on the 21st day of a 425-kilometer (265-mile) "march for justice" to protest the jailing of opposition member of parliament and former editor Enis Berberoğlu.

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 2, 2017

Turkish president tells German newspaper jailed correspondent is a terrorist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an interview published yesterday, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that Die Welt Turkey correspondent, Turkish-German dual national Deniz Yücel, is a terrorist because he interviewed a leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist…

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Police disperse marchers who had tried to gather for an LGBTQI pride march in Istanbul, June 25, 2017. Police also briefly detained an AP reporter (not pictured here) at the march, according to reports. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 25, 2017

BBC reporter refused entry Police at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport yesterday detained BBC reporter Jiyar Gol for five hours before putting him on a plane out of the country, the journalist wrote on Twitter. The journalist tweeted that he believes he was not allowed in the country because of his reporting for the BBC. [June 30,…

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stands in the presidential palace in Ankara, June 15, 2017. (AP/Presidency Press Service)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 18, 2017

Prosecutor asks to reopen investigation into journalist for interview Public prosecutor Umut Tepe petitioned a Turkish court to allow him to reopen his investigation into jailed Cumhuriyet reporter Ahmet Şık on charges of producing propaganda for a terrorist organization, Cumhuriyet reported yesterday. Tepe had previously dropped charges against the journalist for publishing an interview with…

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses graduating students at the Imam Hatip religious school in Istanbul, May 26, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 11, 2017

Twelve witnesses against journalist say testimony extracted under torture Twelve out of 13 witnesses prosecutors called yesterday to testify that Nedim Türfent, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was a member of a terrorist organization recanted their written testimony, saying police extracted it under torture, the daily Evrensel reported. Police…

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Mathias Depardon's mother, Daniele Van de Lanotte, speaks to reporters outside Turkey's Embassy to France, May 25, 2017. (AFP/Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt)

Turkey releases French photographer Mathias Depardon

New York, June 9, 2017–Turkish authorities should allow French photographer Mathias Depardon to live and work freely in Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Depardon’s lawyer, Emine Şeker, told CPJ that the photographer was deported to France today.

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