Journalists in Turkey launch campaign for freedom of colleagues
Journalists in Turkey launch campaign for freedom of colleagues
Turkish journalists associations launched a “Freedom to Journalists” campaign. They hope to secure the release of 46 journalists jailed in Turkey. The campaign is also demanding the removal of articles from the Turkish penal code and counter-terrorism law that limit the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression.
“Considering the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, universal values of humankind, fundamental rights and the principle of the rule of law, there is no freedom of press or freedom of expression in Turkey in a real sense,” Erdal Ipekçi, chairman of the Turkish Journalists’ Union, or TGS, said at a press conference on Monday.
The joint declaration read aloud by Ipekçi has been supported by the G-9 Journalist Organizations Platform, an umbrella association embracing nine different journalists’ organizations.
There are currently 46 journalists and members of the press in Turkish prisons.
In recent months 15 others had been released having been detained for six months, but their trials are continuing.
Only last week two DIHA (Dicle News Agency)reporters have been detained while covering stories for their agency. Murat Altunöz was at Mustafa Kemal University Students Association (MKÖDER) in the university's canteen when he was stopped by the security who did not want him to shoot the action.
On his leaving the campus, Altunöz was addressed by people in plain clothes introducing themselves as gendarmerie officers. They wanted to take the camera but when Altunöz refused to hand it in, they pushed him in a car where he was heavily threatened.
On a separate instance, Pýnar Ural, also working for DIHA, was attacked in a public bus in Istanbul last week. She had just been reporting on a students' protest action on the campus of Istanbul Technical University.
“Considering the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, universal values of humankind, fundamental rights and the principle of the rule of law, there is no freedom of press or freedom of expression in Turkey in a real sense,” Erdal Ipekçi, chairman of the Turkish Journalists’ Union, or TGS, said at a press conference on Monday.
The joint declaration read aloud by Ipekçi has been supported by the G-9 Journalist Organizations Platform, an umbrella association embracing nine different journalists’ organizations.
There are currently 46 journalists and members of the press in Turkish prisons.
In recent months 15 others had been released having been detained for six months, but their trials are continuing.
Only last week two DIHA (Dicle News Agency)reporters have been detained while covering stories for their agency. Murat Altunöz was at Mustafa Kemal University Students Association (MKÖDER) in the university's canteen when he was stopped by the security who did not want him to shoot the action.
On his leaving the campus, Altunöz was addressed by people in plain clothes introducing themselves as gendarmerie officers. They wanted to take the camera but when Altunöz refused to hand it in, they pushed him in a car where he was heavily threatened.
On a separate instance, Pýnar Ural, also working for DIHA, was attacked in a public bus in Istanbul last week. She had just been reporting on a students' protest action on the campus of Istanbul Technical University.
