Turkey’s Press Freedom Crisis
Sidebar: Letters From Prison Here are excerpts from letters written by four journalists who have been imprisoned in Turkey. They were first published by the independent online news portal Bianet in January and February 2012. As in dozens of other cases, prosecutors have charged these individuals with grave anti-state crimes. These first-person accounts provide a…
Turkey’s Press Freedom Crisis
5. Test of Political Will On March 25, 2012, the day before the Nuclear Security Summit got under way in Seoul, South Korea, U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss a world of troubles. On the agenda were efforts to compel Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside,…
Turkey’s Press Freedom Crisis
Sidebar: Online Censors Sharpen Tactics By Danny O’Brien As Deniz Ergürel and his Media Association colleagues prepared for a meeting with President Abdullah Gül in June 2011, they searched for a damning example of how illogical Turkey’s Internet censorship had become. They didn’t have to look far. In an attempt to enforce a sitewide ban…
Turkey’s Press Freedom Crisis
Appendix I: Journalists in Prison CPJ research identified 76 journalists imprisoned in Turkey as of August 1, 2012. After examining the government’s evidence, reviewing other public records, and speaking with defense lawyers involved in the cases, CPJ concluded that at least 61 detainees were being held in direct relation to their journalism.
Turkey’s Press Freedom Crisis
Appendix II: Government Responses CPJ sought comment for this report from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin. The requests, made in writing by CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova, elicited responses from Justice Minister Ergin and Namık Tan, Turkish ambassador to the United States. The prime minister did…
Turkey’s Press Freedom Crisis
Podcast With CPJ’s Nina Ognianova CPJ’s Nina Ognianova describes the widespread criminal prosecution and jailing of journalists in Turkey. A vast and repressive legal structure, combined with a harshly adversarial tone set at the highest levels of government, have created a crisis, says Ognianova, lead author of a new CPJ special report. Listen to the…
Journalists in exile 2012
Crisis in East Africa Fifty-seven journalists fled their country in the past year, with Somalia sending the greatest number into exile. Journalists also fled Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Rwanda–mostly for Kenya and Uganda. Exiles in East Africa must grapple with poverty and fear. A CPJ special report by María Salazar-Ferro and Tom Rhodes
In Kyrgyzstan, injustice and torture in Askarov case
Azimjon Askarov, an investigative reporter and human rights defender, had ended careers and embarrassed officials time and again with his reporting on law enforcement abuses in southern Kyrgyzstan. When ethnic unrest broke out in June 2010, authorities struck back with a vengeance. A CPJ special report by Muzaffar Suleymanov