Turkey / Europe & Central Asia

  
A member of the Journalists Union of Turkey TGS holds a sign reading "Enough" in a protest in Istanbul to mark World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

French journalist jailed in Turkey pending terrorism trial

New York, August 3, 2017–Turkish authorities should immediately release French freelance journalist Loup Bureau, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court in Turkey’s southeastern Şırnak province yesterday ordered the journalist jailed pending trial on terrorism charges, according to press reports.

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Press freedom advocates chant hold a banner saying "To hell with despotism, long live freedom" outside an Istanbul courthouse where journalists from Cumhuriyet newspaper stood trial, July 28, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 30, 2017

Court jails two journalists pending trial A court in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep on August 2 ordered Furkan Gökşen, a reporter for the local newspaper Detay Haber, and Murat Güreş, a columnist for the local newspaper Ayıntap, jailed pending trial on charges of “violating the secrecy of an investigation,” the leftist daily newspaper…

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Journalists and press freedom advocates read Cumhuriyet newspaper at a protest demanding the release of 17 employees and directors of the newspaper outside their trial in Istanbul, July 28, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Seven Cumhuriyet journalists and managers released pending trial

New York, July 28, 2017–Turkish authorities should immediately and unconditionally release all employees and directors of the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, and all journalists jailed for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court in Istanbul today ordered seven Cumhuriyet employees and managers released pending the conclusion of their trial, according to press…

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Journalists and press freedom advocates release balloons in front of the courthouse in Istanbul where 17 journalists and board members from Cumhuriyet newspaper were standing trial, July 24, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 23, 2017

Journalists to stand trial on charges of obtaining secret information Hatay’s Second Court of Penal Peace yesterday ordered Dihaber journalist Erdoğan Alayumat jailed pending trial on charges “obtaining secret information of the Republic of Turkey with the means of political and military espionage” and ordered Nuri Akman released on probation pending trial, their employer reported.…

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Journalists and press-freedom advocates release balloons outside the Istanbul courthouse where 17 employees and board members of the newspaper Cumhuriyet went on trial, July 24, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Trial of 17 Cumhuriyet newspaper employees begins in Turkey

New York, July 24, 2017–The trial of 17 journalists, managers, and board members of the pro-opposition daily newspaper Cumhuriyet on terrorism-related charges is a further blow to press freedom in Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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President Erdogan waves to supporters during an event in Istanbul to mark the one-year anniversary of Turkey's failed coup attempt. A news editor was detained on July 15 over a column on the government's response to the failed coup. (Presidency Press Service via AP/Pool)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 16, 2017

Germany says Turkey offered prisoner swap for jailed journalist German daily Bild cited an unnamed German diplomatic source as saying that Turkey offered to exchange imprisoned journalist Deniz Yücel for two former generals who sought asylum in Germany. Germany’s foreign ministry rejected the offer, the anonymous source told Bild. Turkey has not commented publicly on…

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Can Dündar in Berlin, November 4, 2016 (Reuters/Axel Schmidt)

Turkish media in exile? Think again

Freedom is like air or water: something you appreciate only when it’s gone. Freedom for Turkish journalists was never as abundant as air or water–but nor was it ever as scarce as it has become in the last year.

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People stand atop a military tank at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, in the early hours of July 16, 2016. (Reuters/Huseyin Aldemir)

A year after attempted coup in Turkey, media landscape purged of critical voices

The history of modern Turkish politics is rife with military intervention–the army has toppled elected governments four times since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the modern Turkish state in 1923, and has strong-armed them into submission countless other times. One of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s greatest accomplishments has been returning the military to the barracks and…

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A man with a Turkish flag walks over the word "Adelet," or "Justice," at a July 9, 2017, rally in Istanbul organized by the country's largest opposition party to protest the arrest of lawmaker and former editor Enis Berberoğlu. (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 9, 2017

Police detain two journalists Police in the southern Turkish province of Hatay detained Erdoğan Alayumat and Nuri Akman, two correspondents for the pro-Kurdish news website Dihaber last night as they worked, their employer reported today. Police detained them on a complaint that they were “suspicious,” according to the report. A third individual, İsa Nuri Demir,…

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Thousands of opposition supporters pass through Izmit, Turkey, on the 21st day of a 425-kilometer (265-mile) "march for justice" to protest the jailing of opposition member of parliament and former editor Enis Berberoğlu.

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 2, 2017

Turkish president tells German newspaper jailed correspondent is a terrorist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an interview published yesterday, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that Die Welt Turkey correspondent, Turkish-German dual national Deniz Yücel, is a terrorist because he interviewed a leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist…

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