EU to Slam Turkish Media Curbs – WSJ.com

By MARC CHAMPION

ISTANBUL—The European Union on Tuesday will criticize Turkey sharply over the rising number of prosecutions against journalists in an annual progress report on the country’s bid to join the bloc, said a person familiar with the draft.

The attack on Turkey’s press-freedom record is likely to further embarrass the country’s Islamic-leaning government, which this week takes over the six-month rotating chair of the Council of Europe, the Continent’s top human-rights body. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has hailed that development as testament to “the level of democracy in Turkey.”

Ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was prosecuted under Article 301, which penalized anyone who publicly denigrated “Turkishness,” the military, courts or government, in 2006, and was assassinated soon afterward.

But according to Turkish and international press watchdogs, media freedoms—a key right underpinning democratic systems—are getting significantly worse in Turkey. Reporters without Borders this year ranked Turkey 138th in terms of media freedom, out of 178 countries—down from 98th out of 167 in 2005.

The core problem, press advocates and Turkish journalists said, is the country’s penal code, adopted in 2005. The EU’s report will describe “the large number of cases initiated against journalists” arising from several articles in the code as a cause for concern that could lead to “self-censorship,” said the people familiar with the draft.

via EU to Slam Turkish Media Curbs – WSJ.com.