Tag: freedom of speech

IN a study released in early April, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, reported 57 journalists were in prison in Turkey, mostly on the basis of the country’s anti-terrorism laws.

With 11 more Turkish journalists also facing charges, the total number soon could double the records of Iran and China, each of which reportedly held 34 journalists in prison in December last year. Indeed, Mijatovic estimated another 700 to 1000 proceedings against journalists are ongoing.

Such a situation is intolerable anywhere, but particularly in a democracy that seeks European Union membership and that recognises freedom of expression as a fundamental right.

Turkey’s behaviour calls into question not only its desire but also its ability to commit to the values underlying the EU.

Journalists linked to Kurdish or Marxist organisations have been targeted regularly under Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws, and the OSCE study found they faced some of the harshest punishments. One Kurdish journalist was sentenced to 166 years in prison. Others face — wait for it — 3000-year sentences if convicted.

The relative lack of scrutiny of Turkey’s treatment of journalists by many in the West has changed, however, owing to the recent waves of arrests in the so-called Ergenekon case.

Numerous military officers and academics have been implicated in that case, which involves an alleged plot by secular ultra-nationalists to overthrow the Turkish government.

The probe has now turned increasingly towards journalists.

One of those accused of participating in the plot is the daily newspaper Milliyet’s investigative reporter, Nedim Sener, whose work includes a book about links between security forces and the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

The International Press Institute named Sener a World Press Freedom Hero last year. Incarcerated following his arrest last month, he reportedly stands accused of belonging to an armed terrorist organisation seeking to overthrow the government.

Another journalist under fire is Ahmet Sik, who already faced prosecution for co-writing a book criticising the government’s crackdown on the Ergenekon plot. Sik was said to be working on a book about the alleged influence of an Islamic group within Turkey’s police force, which authorities last month ordered confiscated before it could be printed.

A common thread in all the cases targeting journalists is that the alleged facts are shrouded in secrecy and the authorities have declined to release any evidence of crimes or criminal organisations. Worse still, they have declined even to inform those brought before courts, sometimes in secret, or their attorneys of the charges they face.

Indeed, journalists caught in this Kafkaesque affair can expect to spend years behind bars before being allowed to respond to the accusations against them. A climate of fear escalates with each raid and arrest.

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities affirm the country’s commitment to press freedom, even as they impugn the motives of those who exercise it. Given that so many journalists have been jailed and that all of them have been critical of the government, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that journalists are being targeted because of their work.

Such concern has been voiced not only by press freedom groups such as IPI and journalists such as the Freedom for Journalists Platform (an umbrella group representing local and national media organisations in Turkey), but also by respected international institutions.

The US mission to the OSCE and the European Commission have joined Mijatovic in calling on Turkey’s authorities to stop their intimidation of the media immediately and to uphold basic OSCE media freedom commitments. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Turkey to guarantee freedom of opinion and expression.

Even Turkey’s President, Abdullah Gul, recently called for “prosecutors and courts to be more diligent in pursuing their responsibilities, and to act in a way that does not harm the honour and rights of the people”.

Turkey plays a pivotal, bridge-building role between East and West, and the country has been praised for demonstrating that democracy can coexist with Islam. But the arrests of so many journalists are eroding this image.

The right of journalists to cover sensitive topics, including national security, is fundamental. Those who do not engage in criminal activity should not face arrest, imprisonment or any other form of harassment or intimidation for doing their job.

Those accused of criminal activity must be given due process and a fair trial. Evidence must be provided and the accused must be presented with the charges they face and the opportunity to defend themselves.

Far from being defamatory subversives, journalists who investigate and criticise their government’s actions demonstrate true patriotism because no democracy can survive without the open and independent assessment of public policies that journalists provide.

If Turkey, a leading regional power with an ancient cultural heritage, truly wishes to be welcomed into Europe, to take its rightful place on the world stage and, indeed, to remain a democracy, its leaders must not hold freedom of the press in contempt.

Alison Bethel McKenzie is director of the International Press Institute. Steven M. Ellis is IPI press freedom adviser.

More arrests stoke fears that the government is intolerant of criticism

Mar 10th 2011 | ISTANBUL | from the print edition

Let our people go

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkey’s mildly Islamist prime minister, likes to boast that his Justice and Development (AK) party has transformed the country into a “forward democracy”. But the detention and imprisonment of two investigative journalists on March 6th looks very much like a step backwards.

The arrests of Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener came at a time of growing concern about pressure on the media. Scores of journalists, many of them Kurds, are in jail. The European Union and America say they are worried. Thousands of Turks took to the streets in protest after the arrests.

Mr Sik and Mr Sener have been accused of involvement with the so-called Ergenekon gang, an organisation of generals and like-minded accomplices alleged to have plotted to overthrow AK. The investigation into Ergenekon, which began in 2007, marks the first time that serving generals have been called to account by civilians (albeit in controversial special security courts), and has offered an unprecedented glimpse into the army’s murky past.

Yet even AK’s biggest fans worry that the legitimacy of the Ergenekon case is being dented by heavy-handed tactics such as the arrests of Mr Sik and Mr Sener. Four years after the investigation began there have still been no convictions. Some suspects have yet to be charged. The investigation, say some, has become a mere pretext to round up the government’s critics. Last month police raided the offices of OdaTV, a website, and arrested three journalists on suspicion of inciting a coup.

Some argue that Turkey’s most influential Islamic brotherhood, led by Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based imam, can be seen behind the recent wave of arrests. Nonsense, say Gulenists. Their movement is widely acknowledged as a moderate force. But critics claim that their penetration of the state, notably the police, has given them free rein to pursue their foes in the army and elsewhere.

Both journalists arrested last week had produced works that may have brought them enemies. Mr Sener is best known for a book that documents the complicity of the police in the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin. At the time of his arrest Mr Sik was about to publish a book on the influence of the Gulenists within the security forces. “Whoever touches [them] burns,” Mr Sik shouted as he was arrested.

Zekeriya Oz, the chief Ergenekon prosecutor, said the pair were arrested not because of their writings but because of “other activities” that he was, for the time being, “unable to reveal”. Yet leaked transcripts of their interrogations show that Mr Oz grilled them about several books, including one written by a former police chief, Hanefi Avci, which also attacks the Gulenists. (Shortly after its publication, Mr Avci, a self-avowed religious conservative, was imprisoned for his alleged membership of an obscure left-wing faction.)

Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, points out that the use of secret evidence means that defendants cannot challenge their detention. The longer it remains secret, the louder the protests are likely to be.

from the print edition | Europe

via Press freedom in Turkey: A dangerous place to be a journalist | The Economist.