The Media Day in prison for many journalists
The Media Day in prison for many journalists
Repression against journalists in Turkey began with the murder of Serbesti paper editorial writer Hasan Fehmi in 1909 and persisted with the assassinations of Sabahattin Ali, Çetin Emeç, Abdi Ýpekçi, Uður Mumcu, Metin Göktepe and many others in 90s, the years Turkey topped the list of countries with the greatest number of journalists killed. It was again these years which witnessed the emergence of the Free Kurdish Press tradition whose followers have been subjected to cruel practices up to this very day.
Free press members were imprisoned, shot dead, disappeared or bombed in 90s when 65 journalists and paper workers/distributors were murdered, according to the figures of Turkish Journalists Association.
Journalist killings in Turkey however didnt end in 2000s as the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in full daylight in 2007, at close range on the street, just after he left his office in Istanbul. The policy of repression continues in a different mask today with around a hundred Kurdish and opponent journalists jailed for doing their job and accused of being murderer and harasser by the government.
In a letter in response to PM Erdoðan s accusations in February, jailed journalists said that; We would like to ask the Prime Minister; Which of the jailed journalists has got involved in any murdering, bombing, raping and theft event? We ask you to explain and prove your allegations. If there is a kind of unlawfulness in question, it is the fact that our job has been stolen, our freedoms have been raped, inner consciences have been deadened and truths have been distorted.
Erdoðan has neither responded to this question nor stopped accusing jailed journalists.
According to the Platform for Freedom for Jailed Journalists, 97 journalists, including 19 publishers, are currently jailed in Turkish prisons and the majority of the jailed press members are made up of Kurdish journalists. 180 journalists have been put in prison in the last three years and nearly 600 press members face legal actions filed against them.
The jailed journalists and newspaper distributors/media employees were initially arrested under allegations of "membership of an armed illegal organization". Later on they were charged with "committing a crime on behalf of an illegal organization without being a member of the organization" and/or "willingly aiding and abetting an illegal organization and being part of its hierarchic structure".
44 journalists who were convicted of "membership of an illegal organization" have been tried since December 2011 in the context of the so called Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) operation. 36 among them have been unlawfully remanded in custody despite the lack of any confirmed criminal evidence.
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) central office in Ankara released a statement dedicated to the Media Day and demanded immediate release of 100 jailed journalists in Turkish prisons.
BDP called the Turkish state and government to end all kind of repressive and prohibitive impositions on the press.
Free press members were imprisoned, shot dead, disappeared or bombed in 90s when 65 journalists and paper workers/distributors were murdered, according to the figures of Turkish Journalists Association.
Journalist killings in Turkey however didnt end in 2000s as the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in full daylight in 2007, at close range on the street, just after he left his office in Istanbul. The policy of repression continues in a different mask today with around a hundred Kurdish and opponent journalists jailed for doing their job and accused of being murderer and harasser by the government.
In a letter in response to PM Erdoðan s accusations in February, jailed journalists said that; We would like to ask the Prime Minister; Which of the jailed journalists has got involved in any murdering, bombing, raping and theft event? We ask you to explain and prove your allegations. If there is a kind of unlawfulness in question, it is the fact that our job has been stolen, our freedoms have been raped, inner consciences have been deadened and truths have been distorted.
Erdoðan has neither responded to this question nor stopped accusing jailed journalists.
According to the Platform for Freedom for Jailed Journalists, 97 journalists, including 19 publishers, are currently jailed in Turkish prisons and the majority of the jailed press members are made up of Kurdish journalists. 180 journalists have been put in prison in the last three years and nearly 600 press members face legal actions filed against them.
The jailed journalists and newspaper distributors/media employees were initially arrested under allegations of "membership of an armed illegal organization". Later on they were charged with "committing a crime on behalf of an illegal organization without being a member of the organization" and/or "willingly aiding and abetting an illegal organization and being part of its hierarchic structure".
44 journalists who were convicted of "membership of an illegal organization" have been tried since December 2011 in the context of the so called Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) operation. 36 among them have been unlawfully remanded in custody despite the lack of any confirmed criminal evidence.
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) central office in Ankara released a statement dedicated to the Media Day and demanded immediate release of 100 jailed journalists in Turkish prisons.
BDP called the Turkish state and government to end all kind of repressive and prohibitive impositions on the press.
