Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 8, 2018
Court rules journalists should be released, but they remain in custody Turkey’s Constitutional Court on January 11 ruled that local courts should release from pre-trial detention Şahin Alpay, a former columnist for the shuttered daily Zaman, and Mehmet Altan, a former host for the shuttered Can Erzincan TV and columnist for the shuttered daily Özgür…
In response to Trump’s fake news awards, CPJ announces Press Oppressors awards
Amid the public discourse of fake news and President Trump’s announcement via Twitter about his planned “fake news” awards ceremony, CPJ is recognizing world leaders who have gone out of their way to attack the press and undermine the norms that support freedom of the media. From an unparalleled fear of their critics and the…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 1, 2018
New decree shutters two more news outlets The Turkish cabinet on December 24 issued a decree that prompted the closure of Akdeniz Gazetesi and Isparta Çınaraltı Gazetesi, two local newspapers in the southwestern province of Isparta, the daily Evrensel reported. Under the decree, the papers were considered threats to national security, according to Evrensel.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 17, 2017
Journalists sentenced A court in Turkey’s southeastern Hakkâri region on December 15 sentenced Nedim Türfent, a former reporter for the shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), to eight years and nine months in prison for “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” the independent news website Bianet reported.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 11, 2017
Media workers released An Istanbul court on December 8 ordered three employees from the advertisement department of the now shuttered daily Zaman–Hüseyin Belli, Onur Kutlu and İsmail Küçük–to be freed pending trial, the English-language news blog Turkish Minute reported. The three are part of a trial that started in September 2017 which, as CPJ previously…
Record number of journalists jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt pay scant price for repression
For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers–Turkey, China, and Egypt–into improving the bleak climate for press freedom. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 19, 2017
Journalists sentenced An Ankara court on November 22 sentenced Ayşenur Parıldak, a former court reporter for the shuttered daily Zaman, seven years and six months in prison for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization,” the online newspaper Diken reported.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 12, 2017
Journalists released A Turkish court on November 9 released from prison Mehmet Çağrı, chief editor for the local radio station Dersim Munzur, during his first trial hearing in the southeastern city of Tunceli, which is also known as by the Kurdish name of Dersim, the daily Evrensel reported.