Tag: Turkish journalist

  • Turkish journalists missing in Syria finally phone home

    Turkish journalists missing in Syria finally phone home

    By By Ivan Watson and Yesim Comert, CNN

    May 7, 2012 — Updated 0201 GMT (1001 HKT)

    120315070745 ozkose coskun turkey story body

    Turkish journalist Adem Ozkose (left) and Hamit Coskun went missing while filming a documentary.

    STORY HIGHLIGHTS

    One of two missing Turkish journalists calls home

    Adem Ozkose said he was fine, his father tells CNN

    Ozkose and camerman Hamit Coskun went missing March 9

    They were filming a documentary when they disappeared

    Editor’s note: Read this report in Arabic.

    Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) — One of two Turkish journalists missing in Syria called home Saturday, ending nearly two months of speculation about their well-being but failing to clear up questions about who is holding them or when they might be freed.

    “For two months we didn’t even know whether they were alive or dead so we had so many concerns and worries. Now at least that has lifted,” journalist Adem Ozkose’s father, Mustafa Ozkose, told CNN. “We are so happy that it is impossible to explain in words.”

    Ozkose, a reporter for the Turkish publications Gercek Hayat and freelance camerman Hamit Coskun went missing while filming a documentary.

    They were last heard from March 9, as they were traveling through Syria’s troubled Idlib province on their way back to neighboring Turkey, Mustafa Ozkese said.

    Mustafa Ozkose said his son had less than three minutes Saturday to talk to his wife and ask about the welfare of his three children.

    “He said he was fine. He said that he missed his children,” Mustafa Ozkose said.

    Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish Islamist charity group widely known by its Turkish acronym IHH, said it mediated the call.

    “As a result of negotiations that have been on going, an IHH diplomatic delegation was able to visit Adem Ozkose and Hamit Coskun where they were in Damascus and managed to have both Adem and Hamit make calls to their families,” said Serkan Nergis, an IHH spokesman.

    “This was a very positive step,” he said.

    A spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry told CNN he had no official information about who is holding the men. Syrian officials have not answered formal requests by Turkey about whether the journalists were in government custody.

    Turkey withdrew its ambassador and diplomats from Damascus last March, as relations drastically deteriorated between the countries.

    IHH officials declined to give details about who is holding the two Turkish journalists in Damascus or what condition the men were in.

    “This is a very sensitive process,” Nergis told CNN. “For now we cannot give further information about the two journalists’ whereabouts or the process itself.”

    But Nergis did say that the negotiations have been conducted in conjunction with Iran, which is a close ally of the Syrian government.

    In an April 23 statement, the group said it had worked with Iranian and Syrian counterparts to broker the release of two elderly Iranians who had been held by members of the Syrian opposition.

    At the time, IHH publicly argued that the release of the Iranians would hopefully lead to the safe return of Ozkose and Coskun to Turkey.

    Throughout the anti-government uprising and bloody regime crackdown that have left more than 9,000 people dead, the Syrian government has for the most part prevented foreign journalists from freely entering the country.

    Turkish citizens do not need visas to travel to Syria. Nonetheless, the Syrian government has detained and deported a number of Turkish journalists who tried to work in the country. One group of reporters did not even make it past the airport before being sent back home.

    The tight restrictions have prompted numerous news organizations, including CNN, to smuggle reporters into Syria.

    According to a six-point peace plan brokered last month by the United Nations, Damascus pledged to allow foreign journalists into Syria. However, news organizations, including CNN, are still being denied visas into the country.

    CNN’s Anna Ozbek contributed to this report.

    via Turkish journalists missing in Syria finally phone home – CNN.com.

  • Freedom for Journalists Platform of Turkey, “The Committee to Protect Journalists Is Mistaken About Turkey”

    Freedom for Journalists Platform of Turkey, “The Committee to Protect Journalists Is Mistaken About Turkey”

    The Committee to Protect Journalists Is Mistaken About Turkey

    by the Freedom for Journalists Platform of Turkey

    Türkçe : https://www.turkishnews.com/tr/content/2011/12/22/gazetecilere-ozgurluk-platformu/

    gop cpj

    According to the tally of the American Committee to Protect Journalists, there are only eight journalists in jail in Turkey. We, as members of the Freedom for Journalists Platform, comprised of 94 national and local media associations, would like to point out that this is a grave error, unless of course it is deliberate deception. We call on the CPJ to correct its mistake.

    The incarceration of a single journalist in a country should be seen as an indication of a serious threat directed at the freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

    An effort by an international media organization to manipulate numbers and thereby belittle the gravity of the situation in Turkey would cast a dark shadow on the universal struggle for freedom of the press.

    We, as the Freedom for Journalists Platform of Turkey, condemn your report claiming that only eight journalists are in jail because of their professional activities.

    Accepting your figure as the truth would mean agreeing with those who have charged the remaining 56 (in jail for long periods of time, even though the trials of many are yet to start) with terroristic activities. This would harm those journalists and influence the judicial process.

    We, the Freedom for Journalists Platform, oppose anti-democratic policies which destroy the foundations of freedom of thought and expression in Turkey and strengthen the climate of censorship in the media. We fail to comprehend how the CPJ puts itself in the place of a criminal court.

    There is one more thing we have failed to understand.

    Why has the CPJ refused to use for Turkish journalists the criteria it used in declaring that 42 journalists are in jail in Iran?

    We suggest the CPJ take a close look at the reports of the European Security and Cooperation Organization (OSCE) concerning the number of journalists in jail in Turkey.

    If the freedom of the press is threatened in one country, the threat applies to all countries.

    Our goal in issuing this statement is not only to correct a mistake, but also to send an invitation for greater solidarity among those struggling for press freedom.

    FREEDOM FOR JOURNALISTS PLATFORM

    Turkish Representative of Association of European Journalists

    Europe and Turkish Journalists Association

    International Press Institute (IPI) National Committee

    Press Council

    Association of Contemporary Journalists

    Association of Foreign Correspondents

    PEN Turkish PEN Center

    The Association of Education and Health Reporters

    Association of Economy Journalists

    Association of Economy Reporters

    Association of Newspapers Owners

    Association of the Journalists (Ankara)

    The Association of the Journalists Foundation

    The Union of the Press Broadcasting Communication Postal Workers

    The Association of Research of Communication

    The Association of İzmir Journalists

    The Association of Culture Tourism Environment Journalists

    The Association of Parliament Reporters

    The Association of the Professional News Cameramen

    The Association of the Environment City Journalists

    The Association of Turkish Photo Reporters

    Turkish Journalists Association

    Turkish Federation of Journalists

    Turkish Journalists Union

    Turkish Sport Reporters Association.

    Turkish Publishers Union

    Turkish Union of the Writers

    The Ugur Mumcu Foundation of Investigative Reporting

    Adıyaman Journalists Association, Afyonkarahisar Journalists Association, Aksaray Journalists and Writers Association, Alanya Journalists Association, Anadolu Sport Journalists Association, Antakya Journalists Association, Antalya Journalists Association, Artvin Journalists Association, Aydın Journalists Association, Balıkesir Journalists Association, Bartın Journalists Association, Batman Journalists and Publishers, Bayburt Journalists Association, Bolu Journalists Association, Burdur Journalists Association, Bursa Journalists Association, Reporters of Presidency and Priministry, Çanakkale Journalists Association, Çorum Journalists Association, Çukurova Journalists Association, Denizli Journalists Association, Doğu Anadolu Journalists Association, Düzce Journalists Association, Edirne Journalists Association, Eskişehir Journalists Association, Fırat Havzası Journalists Association, Gaziantep Journalists Association, Giresun Journalists Association, Güneydoğu Journalists Association, Isparta Journalists Association, İskenderun Journalists Association, Karabük Journalists Association, Karaelmas Journalists Association, Karaman Journalists Association, Kars Kuzeydoğu Journalists Association, Kastamonu Journalists Association, Kayseri Journalists Association; Kırıkkale Müstakil Journalists Association, Kırşehir Journalists Association, Kilis Journalists Association, Kocaeli Journalists Association, Konya Journalists Association, Kütahya Journalists Association, Malatya Journalists Association, Manisa Journalists Association, Mersin Journalists Association, Muğla Journalists Association, Nevşehir Journalists Association, Niğde Journalists Association, Ordu Journalists Association, Osmaniye Journalists Association, Radio and Television Journalists Association, Sakarya Journalists Association, Samsun 19 Mayıs Journalists Association, Sinop Journalists Association, Sivas Journalists Association, Şanlıurfa GAP Journalists Association, Tokat Journalists Association, Trabzon Journalists Association, Trakya Journalists Association, Tunceli Journalists Association, Turkish News Cameramen Association, Uşak Faal Journalists Association, Yalova Journalists Association, Yozgat Journalists Writers Association, Zonguldak Journalists Association

    Click here to read the statement in Turkish. Translation by Oray Egin.

    via Freedom for Journalists Platform of Turkey, “The Committee to Protect Journalists Is Mistaken About Turkey”.

    cpj

  • Editor-in-chief of Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper Ilhan Selcuk dies

    Editor-in-chief of Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper Ilhan Selcuk dies

    Baku – APA. A famous Turkish journalist, owner and editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper Ilhan Selcuk has died.

    APA reports quoting Turkish media that 85-year-old journalist has died in Istanbul today.

    Ilhan Selcuk was born in Izmir in 1925. He graduated from the faculty of law of Istanbul University. He had worked as a lawyer for some time, then worked in various newspapers. He was arrested after the coup in March, 1971 […]. 37 years later – on March 21, 2008, he was arrested in connection with the Ergenekon and was released two days later.

    Ilhan Selcuk, one of the founders of Turkish Human Rights Organization, was awarded a number of prizes.

    APA