Posts Tagged ‘Turkey’
June 13th, 2011
Ahmet Altan, the editor of liberal daily paper Taraf has appeared in court after he was accused of “exceeding the limits of freedom of expression” by the country’s prime minister. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been in power since 2003, filed
for defamation after Altan accused him of denying the rights of Kurds and for turning his back on his former progressive identity. The prime minister is demanding 50,000 Turkish Liras in compensation and has also filed a criminal complaint against Altan. The case continues.
April 6th, 2011
An Istanbul court has
ordered the seizure of all of investigative journalist Ahmet Sik’s work on his incomplete
book The Army of the Imam. His manuscript explores the connection between the police and the group headed by Turkish Imam Fethullah Gülen. Sik was close to finishing the work when he was
arrested in March. Gülen is now living in exile in the USA. It has been alleged that the book will appear online on 11 April.
April 6th, 2011
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has published a
report revealing that there are currently 57 journalists
imprisoned in
Turkey. This is more than any other country. The figures in the report come from the findings of the Freedom for Journalists platform, which represents local and national media organisations in Turkey. The report also states that a further ten journalists are awaiting trial. The EU are planning a special
conference in Brussels next month to discuss freedom of expression in Turkey.
March 18th, 2011
A Turkish court
rejected an application for the provisional
release of reporters Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener on Thursday. They were
arrested on 3 March during raids relating to the alleged
Ergenekon plot. They will now be
imprisoned pending trial on the charge of belonging to a “terrorist organisation”.
March 14th, 2011
Thousands of people gathered in the centre of Istanbul on Sunday to
protest against the
imprisonment of journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener. The reporters were detained as part of an official crackdown over the alleged
Ergenekon plot. The demonstration was organised by the Freedom for Journalists platform (GÖP) to highlight the
abuse of press freedom in Turkey. They are also campaigning for changes to national laws, in particular the Turkish Criminal Law.
March 11th, 2011
For many journalists and opinion leaders who supported the Ergenekon investigations from the beginning, Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener’s arrests are absurd and plainly wrong, says Kaya Genç
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March 8th, 2011
Two journalists, Nedem Sener and Ahmet Sik, were
sentenced to prison on Sunday pending an investigation into allegations that the military attempted to overthrow the Turkish government in 2003. About 60 journalists are currently imprisoned and thousands face prosecution for their work, reported the Turkish Journalists’ Association.Meanwhile, there are other concerns about
press freedom in Turkey; 600,000 bloggers cannot access their blogs, after Google’s blogging service, Blogspot, was
blocked in the country, for example. The site was banned by a Turkish court after users showed football matches on their blogs. Digiturk, a satellite TV firm, has exclusive rights to broadcast the matches in Turkey and approached the courts when it became aware of the matches being shown on the blogs.
March 4th, 2011
With the enactment of Law No. 5651 in May 2007, Turkey has become the land of internet censorship, argues Dr Yaman Akdeniz
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