Hikmet Çetinkaya Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

Turkish aircraft fly over a parade in the Turkish Cypriot northern part of the divided city of Nicosia, Cyprus on July 20, 2018. The parade marked the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. (Reuters/Yiannis Kourtoglou)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 30, 2018

August 2, 2018 12:14 PM EDT

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…

Cumhuriyet cartoonist Musa Kart, center, and colleagues stand outside an Istanbul courthouse in March 2018. A court in April convicted Kart and several of his colleagues of aiding a terrorist organization. (AFP/Ozan Lose)

Turkey convicts Cumhuriyet journalists on terrorism charges

April 25, 2018 5:32 PM EDT

Istanbul, April 25, 2018–An Istanbul court today convicted 14 people affiliated with the independent daily Cumhuriyet of aiding terrorist organizations and sentenced them to jail terms ranging between three and seven years, the newspaper reported. The court placed the journalists on probation and banned them from traveling until the appeals process has ended, according to…

Security forces stand guard atop a building in Istanbul as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gives a speech in favor of amendments to the constitution that would increase his powers, March 26, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 2, 2017

April 3, 2017 10:59 AM EDT

Cumhuriyet journalists respond to indictment Cumhuriyet journalists Kadri Gürsel and Murat Sabuncu, who were listed in an indictment against the Turkish daily earlier this week, reacted to the accusations presented to the court, online newspaper Demokrat Haber and Cumhuriyet reported yesterday.

Supporters of Cumhuriyet newspaper protest police's October 31, 2016, raid of the newspaper's office in Istanbul. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 6

November 7, 2016 1:05 PM EST

Opposition newspaper CEO detained Police at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport detained Akın Atalay, CEO of the embattled opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet, as he disembarked from his flight from Berlin today, Turkey’s official Anadolu News Agency reported. The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office for Press Crimes had issued a warrant for his arrest in the scope of authorities’ investigation…

Supporters of Cumhuriyet newspaper protest a police raid of the daily's Istanbul's office, October 31, 2016. The signs read, "Free media cannot be silenced" (center), and "Don't bow down" (rear). (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of October 30

October 31, 2016 11:28 AM EDT

Social media websites, WhatsApp blocked as police detain opposition leaders Turkey last night blocked access to social media websites and the text-messaging application WhatsApp as police arrested members of parliament for the opposition HDP party, including the party’s co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yuksekdag, according to press reports.

A man reads Cumhuriyet newspaper in Istanbul, January 14, 2015. The newspaper said police stopped delivery trucks from leaving the printers on that date to verify that the newspaper had not republished cartoons from the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. (AP)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 24

April 25, 2016 10:32 AM EDT

Erdoğan says response to “sleaze” of EU’s press-freedom criticism beneath his dignity “Providing an answer to this worthlessness and sleaze would not be very appropriate for the president of Turkey,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters in Croatia yesterday, responding to EU Parliament President Martin Shulz’s criticisms of Turkey’s crackdown on the press, the…

CPJ calls on Turkish government to reverse anti-press measures

February 9, 2015 12:21 PM EST

Dear Prime Minister Davutoğlu: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express alarm at a fresh wave of anti-press actions in Turkey and to ask that you use the power of your office to reverse the measures.