Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

  

Two newspaper offices firebombed in Istanbul

New York, February 11, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s attacks on the Istanbul offices of the daily newspapers Yeni Akit and Yeni Şafak. The newspapers are generally supportive of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

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Turkish journalist arrested for posts on social media

Istanbul, February 8, 2016–Turkish authorities should immediately release Hayri Tunç, a reporter for the independent news website Jiyan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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CPJ concerned for safety of injured journalist trapped in Turkish city

New York, February 4, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of Rohat Aktaş, a news editor and reporter for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, who has been trapped in the southeastern town of Cizre with a gunshot wound since January 22.

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CPJ Newsletter: January

Turkey releases jailed Iraqi journalist Following months of advocacy by VICE News, CPJ, and other groups, Iraqi journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool was released from Turkish prison on January 5. Rasool was arrested in August along with his VICE News colleagues, Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, while they were reporting from southeastern Diyarbakir province. The three…

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Turkish journalists protest the arrest of their colleagues Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, in Ankara, November 27, 2015 (AP/Burhan Ozbilici).

Jailed Turkish journalists face multiple life sentences

New York, January 27, 2016 — Turkish prosecutors should immediately drop all charges against Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, journalists at the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, and release them without delay, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Two Kurdish journalists jailed in southeast Turkey

Istanbul, January 12, 2016–Turkish authorities should immediately release two Kurdish journalists jailed in southeast Turkey since last week and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The arrests follow the detentions of at least three other journalists working for pro-Kurdish news outlets in December.

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Pictures of filmmaker Naji Jerf are held up at his funeral in Gaziantep in December. Syrian media activists based in Turkey say the murder of Jerf and two other journalists makes the country feels less secure. (STR/AFP)

For journalists fleeing Islamic State, Turkey ‘is as dangerous as Syria’

For the past two years, activists and journalists seeking refuge from Islamic State repression in Raqqa would take sanctuary across the border in southern Turkey, setting up safe houses and offices, and darting back to Syria regularly with camera equipment and other vital supplies. But that sanctuary is now under threat.

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Freelance journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool, pictured in 2014, is released on bail after 131 days in jail in Turkey. (AP/Elena Becatoros, File)

Turkey releases VICE News journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool on bail

New York, January 5, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release on bail today of VICE News journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool, and calls on authorities in Turkey to drop the terrorism charges he faces. Rasool, who was arrested in August, is banned from leaving Turkey and must report to a local police station twice…

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From Charlie Hebdo in Paris to bloggers in Bangladesh, extremists target press

Thursday marks one year since two gunmen burst into the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire. Over the following year, CPJ documented the deaths of 28 journalists who were killed for their work by Islamic militant groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. This StoryMap charts the deadly attacks that took…

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Syria, France most deadly countries for the press

Of 69 journalists killed for their work in 2015, 40 percent died at the hands of Islamic militant groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. More than two-thirds of the total killed were singled out for murder. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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