[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”96937″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]PEN International, PEN Belgium/Flanders,the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Article 19,the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ),the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ),the Global Editors Network (GEN), Index on Censorship, the International Press Institute (IPI), American PEN, Danish PEN, English PEN, Norwegian PEN, Wales PEN Cymru, Reporters without Borders (RSF),and the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), welcome the opportunity to deliver this statement.
Working collectively, both jointly and separately, we have an established body of work on freedom of expression in Turkey, in part predating the attempted coup but intensifying since July 2016. Coming from the findings and concerns that have emerged through our work, on this occasion, we have developed four specific requests to the EU, its institutions including the European Parliament, and its Member States:
First, we call on the EU, its Institutions and its Member States to duly implement the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Expression and EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders and to live up the high expectations that were raised therein. Among other things, in the context of Turkey this will entail doing more to end the indiscriminate abuse of criminal legal proceedings against journalists and writers; calling more actively for an end to abusive state of emergency measures that impinge on human rights; and, advocating against restrictive legislation shrinking the space for civil society and human rights defenders. These concerns should be put from and centre not only in political dialogues and during high level visits, but also play a more prominent role when revisiting economic, trade and other agreements between the EU, its Member States and Turkey. Further, we believe the EU and its Member States should be more active when it comes to monitoring and condemning human rights violations.
Second, civil society is under attack in Turkey, and the space for civil society actors and human rights defenders is shrinking. Beyond the immediate impact on activists who are judicially or otherwise persecuted, the Turkish authorities’ actions are also having a chilling effect on actors who for now have remained outside its crosshairs. We call on the EU and its Member States to continue and expand its support to Turkish civil society, both politically and financially .[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times-circle” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
We call on the EU, its Institutions and its Member States to duly implement the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Expression and EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders and to live up the high expectations that were raised therein.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Third, it is our view that Turkey has been abusing INTERPOL’s Red Notice system to attempt to extend internationally its persecution of journalists, writers and others for having exercised peacefully their right to freedom of expression and opinion. The number of Red Notice requests emanating from Turkey has dramatically increased, and while under INTERPOL’s Constitution human rights must be respected in its operations and interventions of a political character are strictly prohibited, we believe that Turkey has been abusing the system in pursuit of nefarious political objectives.
Accordingly, we call on the EU and its Member States to:
Refrain from carrying out arrests on the basis of Red Notices coming from Turkey when there are serious concerns that they may be abusive; and,
Make use of their influence within INTERPOL to push for reforms of the INTERPOL system, including strengthening preventative checks before Red Notices are circulated, strengthening its appeals system, and compensating victims of abusive Red Notices.
Fourth, considering the many fair trial violations we have observed throughout our trial monitoring as well as the many other human rights violations committed by the Turkish authorities since the state of emergency was declared, the role of the European Court of Human Rights in ensuring justice for victims has become ever more important. Especially at a time when the Council of Europe’s human rights system is under pressure , emanating from actions or lack thereof by both EU and non-EU Member States. At the same time, even when duly taking into account the political and financial restraints placed onto the Council of Europe, it appears too deferential towards Turkey.
Accordingly, we call on the EU and its Member States to:
Use their influence within the Council of Europe and urge them to be less deferential towards Turkey; and,
Play a positive and guiding role with a view to implementing and strengthening the EU’s and the Council of Europe’s shared commitments to democracy and human rights.
As international civil society actors, we are ready to contribute our expertise to constructive efforts by the EU and its Member States to support persecuted journalists and writers in Turkey and to improve the situation for freedom of expression in the country.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1513177371551-353126c9-b329-9″ taxonomies=”55″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”96621″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Governments have arsenals of weapons to censor information. The worst are well-known: detention, torture, extra-judicial (and sometimes court-sanctioned) killing, surveillance. Though governments also have access to less forceful but still insidious tools, such as website blocking and internet filtering, these aim to cut off the flow of information and advocacy at the source.
Another form of censorship gets limited attention, a kind of quiet repression: the travel ban. It’s the Trump travel ban in reverse, where governments exit rather than entry. They do so not merely to punish the banned but to deny the spread of information about the state of repression and corruption in their home countries.
In recent days I have heard from people around the world subject to such bans. Khadija Ismayilova, a journalist in Azerbaijan who has exposed high-level corruption, has suffered for years under fraudulent legal cases brought against her, including time in prison. The government now forbids her to travel. As she put it last year: “Corrupt officials of Azerbaijan, predators of the press and human rights are still allowed in high-level forums in democracies and able to speak about values, which they destroy in their own – our own country.”
Zunar, a well-known cartoonist who has long pilloried the leaders of Malaysia, has been subject to a travel ban since mid-2016, while also facing sedition charges for the content of his sharply dissenting art. While awaiting his preposterous trial, which could leave him with years in prison, he has missed exhibitions, public forums, high-profile talks. As he told me, the ban directly undermines his ability to network, share ideas, and build financial support.
Ismayilova and Zunar are not alone. Indiahas imposed a travel ban against the coordinator of a civil society coalition in Kashmir because of “anti-India activities” which, the government alleges, are meant to cause youth to resort to violent protest. Turkeyhas aggressively confiscated passports to target journalists, academics, civil servants, and school teachers. Chinahas barred a women’s human rights defender from travelling outside even her town in Tibet.
Bahrainconfiscated the passport of one activist who, upon her return from a Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, was accused by officials of “false statements” about Bahrain. The United Arab Emirates has held Ahmed Mansoor, a leading human rights defender and blogger and familiar to those in the UN human rights system, incommunicado for nearly this entire year. The government banned him from travelling for years based on his advocacy for democratic reform.
Few governments, apart from Turkey perhaps, can compete with Egypt on this front. I asked Gamal Eid, subject to a travel ban by Egyptian authorities since February of 2016, how it affects his life and work? Eid, one of the leading human rights defenders in the Middle East and the founder of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), has seen his organisation’s website shut down, public libraries he founded (with human rights award money!) forcibly closed, and his bank accounts frozen.
While Eid is recognised internationally for his commitment to human rights, the government accuses him of raising philanthropic funds for ANHRI “to implement a foreign agenda aimed at inciting public opinion against State institutions and promoting allegations in international forums that freedoms are restricted by the country’s legislative system.” He has been separated from his wife and daughter, who fled Egypt in the face of government threats. The ban forced him to close legal offices in Morocco and Tunisia, where he provided defence to journalists, and he lost his green card to work in the United States. He recognises that his situation does not involve the kind of torture or detention that characterises Egypt’s approach to opposition, but the ban has ruined his ability to make a living and to support human rights not just in Egypt but across the Arab world.
Eid is not alone in his country. He estimates that Egypt has placed approximately 500 of its nationals under a travel ban, about sixteen of whom are human rights activists. One of them is the prominent researcher and activist, Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, who faces accusations similar to Eid’s.
Travel bans signal weakness, limited confidence in the power of a government’s arguments, perhaps even a public but quiet concession that, “yes indeed, we repress truth in our country”. While not nearly as painful as the physical weapons of censorship, they undermine global knowledge and debate. They exclude activists and journalists from the kind of training that makes their work more rigorous, accurate, and effective. They also interfere in a direct way with every person’s human right to “leave any country, including one’s own,” unless necessary for reasons such as national security or public order.
All governments that care about human rights should not allow the travel ban to continue to be the silent weapon of censorship – and not just for the sake of Khadija, Zunar, and Gamal, but for those who benefit from their critical voices and work. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Mapping Media Freedom” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times-circle” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Since 24 May 2014, Mapping Media Freedom’s team of correspondents and partners have recorded and verified 3,597 violations against journalists and media outlets.
Index campaigns to protect journalists and media freedom. You can help us by submitting reports to Mapping Media Freedom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’t lose your voice. Stay informed.” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship is a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. We publish work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech. We believe that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution – no matter what their views.
Join our mailing list (or follow us on Twitter or Facebook) and we’ll send you our weekly newsletter about our activities defending free speech. We won’t share your personal information with anyone outside Index.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][gravityform id=”20″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”false”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
“If we wanted to do, we could kill you right here and then say you were killed during the incidents. No one would be able to prove otherwise.”
That’s what police officers told journalist Nedim Türfent when they arrested him more than 18 months ago.
During the fourth hearing in his trial in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Friday 17 Nov, Türfent, a local correspondent and English news editor for the Dicle News Agency, informed the court about the abusive treatment he had suffered at the hands of authorities. The case had already attracted attention after 19 of 20 witnesses confessed to testifying against Türfent under torture and duress.
Türfent’s description of overt police threats has added more insult to injury in a case that lacks any evidence other than fallacious testimonies. “Don’t worry, we’re going to prepare such a file on you that you’ll be in for at least 20 years. You won’t be getting out anytime soon,” Türfent quoted police as saying during his hearing. The journalist faces up to 22.5 years in prison on charges of “membership in a terrorist organisation” and “conducting propaganda.” His 18 months in detention could be extended further in the next hearing on 15 Dec. The fierce crackdown on Turkey’s mainstream media has been covered widely. But this has also created a certain “butterfly effect.” As the government dares to imprison renowned journalists in the “west” – Istanbul – the knock-on effect is much greater for Kurdish journalists in the east as they are sent back in time to face the dark spectres of the 1990s: intimidation, death threats, detentions and ill-treatment. The retaliation against Türfent for his journalistic work in his hometown of Yüksekova is one compelling example.
Yüksekova – Gever to the Kurdish locals – sits on a small flat plain that is surrounded by majestic and jagged peaks that pierce the sky. Located in Hakkari, which borders Iraq and Iran, it is the largest urban area in the country’s deprived southeastern corner. Toughened by the landscape, people from Gever are known to be self-resilient, proud and stubbornly uncompromising against any type of pressure – be it extreme weather or government crackdown. The same can be said for Türfent’s journalism. His bold coverage of the military siege and crackdown in the town in March-April 2016 made him a target.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu5HL0b2GwE”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]One of Türfent’s stories received country-wide media attention when it revealed footage of a commander of special forces inflicting ill-treatment on a group of detainees. “You will see the power of the Turk,” the commander shouted. The story made a tremendous impact, with the prime ministry announcing that it would open a probe over the images.
But then came the death threats, harassment and, eventually, detention for the journalist who broke the story.
“Nedim is being punished for relating the state oppression in Yüksekova during the curfews,” said Nimet Ölmez, a fellow reporter with Mezopotamya Agency, the latest iteration of Dicle News Agency after it and its successor, Dihaber, were closed by decree. “Nedim didn’t have a weapon, a stick or a stone in his hands. All he had was a camera and a pen.”
Fethi Balaman, who started covering the news in Yüksekova for Mezopotamya months after Türfent was detained, explained how his colleague’s work kept the authorities under scrutiny.
“He had a huge network and he could reach anywhere. That scared them. This is why he started to receive more and more threats,” he said. “For instance, they knew that if there was a raid somewhere, Nedim would be informed. What did they do then? They took him so they could do anything they wanted.”
Türfent, who answered our questions from prison through a lawyer, Deniz Yıldız, stressed that it was not just himself but all journalists in the region who were being subject to pressure – pressure that continues even in jail. “As journalists who work in the region, we continuously encounter the cold face of the state when we are outside of prison. The same practices are also reflected once inside.”
More than 200 ongoing cases
Indeed, though compelling, Türfent’s case is just one of many lawsuits against Kurdish journalists. More than 200 probes have been opened against regional journalists, according to Diyarbakır-based Free Journalist Society co-chair Hakkı Boltan.
One of them is Dihaber reporter Selman Keleş, who was detained for taking pictures of Van’s Municipality building after it was surrounded with concrete blocks. Dihaber reporter Mehmet Güleş was also recently sentenced to nine years for “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “conducting propaganda.” Güleş had irritated authorities by reporting about the army’s destruction of homes in his hometown of Şırnak.
Balaman explained that he sometimes has to pass three checkpoints to cover a routine news story. Reporters cannot use a camera anymore, as police and soldiers confiscate them whenever they see one. “When I use a camera, I think about protecting it before protecting myself.”
Türfent is asking for more public awareness and support for the many Kurdish journalists who work across the region. “Our colleagues in the west are confronted with trumped-up indictments. But they have the possibility of moulding public opinion. Journalists who work [here], especially in remote places such as Yüksekova and Cizre, remain in the background.”
The fate of such journalists is a litmus test for defenders of press freedom given the lack of public attention for their plight. “Many colleagues are still waiting for a trial to start two years [after they were detained]. However, there isn’t even a small news story about them,” Türfent said.
Through months of military siege and a state of emergency, local reporters have braved authorities to report on killings, destruction and atrocities that would have been concealed if not for the journalists’ work. But ultimately, the question goes beyond freedom of expression; now, it is the very essence of truth that is at stake.
“Understanding the causes and the results of the Nedim Türfent case means understanding the necessity of freedom for journalists,” said Boltan, demanding more support for Kurdish journalists. “The violations committed here are the source of the pressure on the mainstream media.”
Since 24 May 2014, Mapping Media Freedom’s team of correspondents and partners have recorded and verified over 3,600 violations against journalists and media outlets.
Index campaigns to protect journalists and media freedom. You can help us by submitting reports to Mapping Media Freedom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’t lose your voice. Stay informed.” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship is a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. We publish work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech. We believe that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution – no matter what their views.
Join our mailing list (or follow us on Twitter or Facebook) and we’ll send you our weekly newsletter about our activities defending free speech. We won’t share your personal information with anyone outside Index.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][gravityform id=”20″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”false”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Turkish journalists Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan’s defence attorneys were forced to leave the courtroom as their clients stood trial Monday 13 November, accused of taking part in Turkey’s failed 2016 coup. Both brothers are prominent Turkish journalists, known for their critical reporting on president Erdogan’s regime.
Ahmet and Mehmet Altan, along with Nazlı Ilıcak, also face three aggravated life sentences for supposedly committing crimes on behalf of the Gulen movement, considered a terrorist organisation after the failed coup.
The lawyers were ordered to leave on the grounds that they were speaking without permission, according to Bianet. They were prevented from making a statement of defence, at which point they were removed from the courtroom. “This incident displays the intolerance towards the defence. We’ve been taken out of the courtroom for attempting to exercise the right of defence,” lawyer Ergin Cinmen told Bianet.
“The persecution of journalists and disregard for the rule of law continues on a shocking scale in Turkey,” said Joy Hyvarinen, acting head of advocacy at Index on Censorship. “We urge the Turkish authorities to reconsider.”
Without lawyers present, the court then ruled that the Altan brothers — along with four other journalists — will remain in pretrial detention. The hearings will resume on 11 December.
Right to defence now removed as all 4 of Altans’ lawyers have been expelled from the court. #freeturkeymedia
#Surreal: we are monitoring the #AhmetAltan#MehmetAltan trial with the defence team via twitter. All defence lawyers expelled and trial observers blocked from entering the court. This is a new low for justice in #Turkey
