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EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO CALL ON TURKEY TO STOP ATTACKING JOURNALISTS
PanARMENIAN.Net
October 10, 2011 - 14:12 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission in its annual enlargement
report will tell Turkey to stop attacking investigative journalists
and to back off on Cyprus gas exploration, according to EUobserver.
The report, due to be published on Wednesday (October 12), singles
out Turkey in a general complaint about attempts to gag independent
reporting in the Western Balkans, saying: "In Turkey, the legal
framework does not yet sufficiently safeguard freedom of expression. A
very high number of cases are brought against journalists and the
number of journalists in detention is a concern."
Turkish reporters writing about sensitive issues, such as state links
to underground Islamist movements, Kurdish minority rights and the
1915 Armenian Genocide, face prosecution and jail sentences under
anti-terrorism laws in actions that undermine the country's image as
a model Islamic democracy.
Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based NGO, in a survey earlier this
year noted that 60 journalists are in prison while 62 were tried in
media freedom cases in the first three months of this year.
Reporters Vedat Yildiz and Lokman Dayan in March received eight-year
suspended sentences for covering a pro-Kurdish demonstration in
southeast Turkey. Meanwhile, the decision in September to wrap up
the investigation into the 2007 murder of Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink is widely seen as an attempt to portray his young killer, Ogun
Samast, as a 'lone wolf' extremist while making sure suspected links
to government officials are not explored.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
PanARMENIAN.Net
October 10, 2011 - 14:12 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Commission in its annual enlargement
report will tell Turkey to stop attacking investigative journalists
and to back off on Cyprus gas exploration, according to EUobserver.
The report, due to be published on Wednesday (October 12), singles
out Turkey in a general complaint about attempts to gag independent
reporting in the Western Balkans, saying: "In Turkey, the legal
framework does not yet sufficiently safeguard freedom of expression. A
very high number of cases are brought against journalists and the
number of journalists in detention is a concern."
Turkish reporters writing about sensitive issues, such as state links
to underground Islamist movements, Kurdish minority rights and the
1915 Armenian Genocide, face prosecution and jail sentences under
anti-terrorism laws in actions that undermine the country's image as
a model Islamic democracy.
Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based NGO, in a survey earlier this
year noted that 60 journalists are in prison while 62 were tried in
media freedom cases in the first three months of this year.
Reporters Vedat Yildiz and Lokman Dayan in March received eight-year
suspended sentences for covering a pro-Kurdish demonstration in
southeast Turkey. Meanwhile, the decision in September to wrap up
the investigation into the 2007 murder of Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink is widely seen as an attempt to portray his young killer, Ogun
Samast, as a 'lone wolf' extremist while making sure suspected links
to government officials are not explored.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress