Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

An Istanbul court on August 20 lifted the foreign travel ban on Meşale Tolu, a translator and editor for the leftist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), the daily Cumhuriyet reported.

Capital Markets Board issues warning on coverage of financial markets The Turkish Capital Markets Board (SPK) said in a statement that Article 107 of the Law no. 6362 on “market fraud” will be used against those who “spread fabricated, false and fallacious news about the economy,” independent news website Bianet reported on August 13. The…

On June 19, Abdülhamit Bilici, the last editor-in-chief of the now-shuttered Turkish paper Zaman, tweeted about the decline of press freedom in his home country. If you can see his tweet, you are probably not in Turkey because it is among the over 1.5 million tweets belonging to journalists and media outlets censored there under…

Journalist arrested Authorities in the southeastern city of Mardin on August 8 took Uğur Akgül, a former reporter for the shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), into custody to serve his prison sentence of two years and six months after a court rejected his appeal, according to the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency. The journalist was…

Journalist threatened Hale Gönültaş, a reporter for the news website Gazete Duvar, received a death threat on July 30, three days after the publication of her feature on the Islamic State militant group selling Yezidi women as slaves, her employer reported. Gönültaş’s report stated that at least one Yezidi woman was sold in Ankara, Turkey’s…

Journalist arraigned An Istanbul court on July 19 arraigned Mustafa Gökkılıç, a former reporter for the now-closed liberal daily Radikal, on charges of having ties to the Gülen movement, which the government considers a terrorist organization, according to the state news agency Anatolia.

Journalists in court An Istanbul court today found Canan Coşkun, a court reporter with the daily Cumhuriyet, guilty of “making targets of those assigned to combat terrorism” and sentenced her to two years and three months in prison, her employer reported. She is not in government custody, the report stated.

Journalist released Authorities in the eastern city of Elazığ on July 9 released from custody journalist Şerife Oruç, who is on trial for terrorism-related charges, the news website Gazete Karınca reported. Her trial is ongoing.

Journalists released An Istanbul court on June 27 released Mehmet Altan from Istanbul’s Silvri prison pending an appeal of his conviction and life sentence, according to agency reports.

Ahead of election, OSCE highlights restrictive media environment In a report on Turkey’s elections this month, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said, “The media landscape is dominated by outlets whose owners are considered affiliated with the government or depend on public contracts.” The report added that Turkey’s constitution “Contains a general…