Q&A: Nedim Șener, a Turkish journalist under fire
For the past several months, CPJ staff has been investigating pervasive press freedom problems in Turkey, including the widespread jailing of journalists. This month, CPJ will release an in-depth report on press conditions in Turkey. In advance of our report, we are publishing this interview with Nedim Șener, an investigative reporter who was jailed for…
Defending the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights is a victim of its success. In 2011, more than 60,000 people sought its help after exhausting all judicial remedies before national courts. But now, some member states of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe are pushing for reforms of the prestigious institution and are pointing at the number of…
Attacks on the Press in 2011: Turkey’s Legal Problem
With the aid of anachronistic legislation and a rigid judiciary, Turkish officials and politicians have curbed free expression by subjecting journalists to endless court proceedings and legal costs. The EU and the U.S. are no help. By Robert Mahoney >> Türkçe
Hrant Dink’s Voice
A murder that spawned a movement, the five-year anniversary of Hrant Dink’s high profile assassination drew huge crowds in Turkey to protest the judiciary’s decision to dismiss charges of conspiracy to silence one of the nation’s most outspoken critics. In this New Yorker article CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney describes the current backslide of press freedom in Turkey and the spectre…
Further investigation necessary in Hrant Dink murder
New York, January 17, 2012–The conviction of several accomplices in the 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink, then-editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, fails to address the issue of who commissioned the slaying, thus perpetuating impunity in the case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Editor’s killing still haunts Turkey
There’s a policeman on duty these days in the lobby of the elegant apartment building that houses Agos and a receptionist behind security glass buzzes you in to the newspaper’s cluttered offices. That’s about the only indication that the outspoken Turkish-Armenian editor whom I interviewed here in Istanbul in 2006 was assassinated outside the front…
Mission Journal: Media under growing pressure in Turkey
Turkey is awash in media. The newsstands of Istanbul are buried under some 35 dailies of every format and political stripe. The airwaves are thick with TV channels and Internet penetration is tracking an economy growing at Chinese speed. Yet quantity does not equal quality. Nor does the array of titles mean diversity and freedom…
Journalists held without due process in Turkey
Dear Minister Ergin: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the rights of journalists worldwide, is alarmed by the ongoing detention of journalists in Turkey. We are also concerned by the large number of criminal cases opened against reporters under the sweeping provisions of the Turkish Criminal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act.
Paris and Brussels mobilize for Hrant Dink murder trial
On January 19, 2007, Hrant Dink, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish weekly Agos, was gunned down in front of his office building in Istanbul. The murder sent shockwaves through the Turkish and international human rights and press freedom communities. It also triggered a mobilization of thousands of Turkish intellectuals, activists, and citizens that…