24 Jul 2013 | News and features, Politics and Society, Turkey
In late June, Baydar, who was reader’s editor at the newspaper, had attempted to use his regular slot in the newspaper to condemn the authorities’ actions during Istanbul’s Gezi Park protests. But the newspaper’s editorial board pulled the column.
Baydar, who took a leave of absence from the newspaper following the decision, went to to write a column in the New York Times headlined In Turkey, Media Bosses Are Undermining Democracy. The column appeared on 19 July. According to Today’s Zaman, Baydar subsequently submitted another column to Sabah, but the article was rejected, and Baydar was fired on 23 July.
In an article for the current edition of Index on Censorship magazine, written before he was fired, Baydar wrote:
In big media outlets, fierce censorship and self-censorship are practised on a daily basis. They are severely crippled in their pursuit of journalism, unable or unwilling to cover corruption and abuse of power or to allow critical voices and dissent to be heard. When it comes to particular topics, such as criticism of the government, corruption or abuse of power, news stories are either filtered or unpublished; direct censorship – the actual blacking out of text – is exercised when material is found to be ‘too sensitive’ for the government’s or newspaper owners’ interests.
You can read the full article for free here
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12 Jul 2013 | Campaigns, Europe and Central Asia
A Turkish student attacked while participating in anti-government protests died Wednesday. Ali İsmail Korkmaz suffered a cerebral haemorrhage after unknown assailants attacked him during a protest in the northwestern city of Eskişehir on 2 June.
Korkmaz is the seventh protester to die since the start of unrest on 28 May, when protesters first rallied against the government’s plan to turn Gezi Park — one of Istanbul’s important green spaces — into a shopping mall. The protest movement quickly snowballed, after police used tear gas to disperse the initial 50 protesters.
On 28 July, members of IFEX are calling on seven people to stand silently in front of Turkish embassies around the world for seven minutes at 12:00 PM, in solidarity with Turkey’s ongoing protests. The silent protest has become a symbol of Turkey’s peaceful protesters. Participants are asked to wear the names of those who have been killed.
Mass protests eventually overtook Istanbul’s Taksim Square, and protests were sparked across the country, after the government’s heavy-handed response.
June saw clashes between protesters and security forces, as both camps battled for control of the square. Riot police forced protesters out of Taksim Square during an overnight raid on 11 June.
The Turkish Ministry of Interior has reported over 4,900 protesters in custody, as well as over 400 policemen and 4,000 demonstrators wounded.
Read more here about the campaign, and for details on how to organise a protest.
2 Jul 2013 | Volume 42.02 Summer 2013
The current issue of Index on Censorship magazine features a special report on the shifting world power balance and the implications for freedom of expression.
“The multipolar world can be one where universal human rights and freedom of expression are kept firmly on the agenda, and increasingly respected, if these democracies hold themselves and each other to account — and are held to account — at home and internationally,” write Index CEO Kirsty Hughes and London School of Economics professor Saul Estrin.
The issue also looks at press freedom in Italy, Burma, Mexico, Columbia and India as well as violence against journalists and arrests of those who expose uncomfortable truths. “Worldwide, on average only one in ten cases of murders of journalists ends in a conviction,” says Guy Berger, author of an article on the threats and dangers journalists encounter around the world. Instead of being reassured that the rule of law will be upheld, “the take-away lesson for everyone is: journalists can be killed with impunity”.
From the current issue
Global view: Who has freedom of expression? | The multipolar challenge to free expression | Censorship: The problem child of Burma’s dictatorship | News in monochrome: Journalism in India
Also in this issue:
- John Lloyd on how party politics have skewed Italian journalism
- Yavuz Baydar says Turkey’s media moguls must defend free speech
- Htoo Lwin Myo tells what was it is like to work as a writer in Burma
- Bharat Bhushan on “paid-for” news and the absence of marginal voices in the Indian media
- Lawrence Freedman and Benedict Wilkinson on the opportunities — and limits — of online activism
- A new play from Turkmenistani writer-in-exile Farid Tukhbatullin, whose wit offers a glimpse of life inside one of the world’s most closed and repressive countries.
- Find out more here | Subscribe now
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28 Jun 2013 | Campaigns, Europe and Central Asia, Turkey Statements
Index on Censorship calls on the Turkish government to end its attempts to limit free speech as seen in its pressurising of journalists, criticism of social media commentary, and excessive violence in policing of recent protests.
The free speech organisation is very concerned at reports that the Turkish government has asked Twitter to set up an office in the country, allegedly to persuade the social media platform to remove tweets the government finds to be subversive or simply too critical. If true, this would be an extraordinary move.
Index CEO Kirsty Hughes said:
“The Turkish government appears increasingly unwilling to respect the fundamental rights of the Turkish people to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The increasing political pressure from government combined with excessive violence in policing are undermining rights and threaten to seriously chill free speech through direct censorship and self-censorship. Without proper respect for free speech, there can be no effectively functioning democracy.”
Related
• Turkey losing its way on free speech
• Turkey’s Taksim Square cleared after violent clashes
• The EU must take action on Turkey
• “There is now a menace called Twitter”
