The journalists sent to prison in Turkey is drawing attention from the world as more opposition journalists are imprisoned by the day
The journalists sent to prison in Turkey is drawing attention from the world as more opposition journalists are imprisoned by the day
The Federation of European Journalists has called on Turkey to release the imprisoned journalists rotting behind bars in Turkey. Currently more than 94 journalists are imprisoned from a variety of accusations Turkey levelled against them. Being an opposition journalist has become nearly one of the most dangerous occupations in Turkey.
In the last 10 days 9 media workers have been arrested and sent to jail for doing what they do professionally: journalism.
The favorite charge, because it is easy to scare the population with, brought against the reporters and media workers is the charge of being a terrorist or supporting a so-called terrorist organization.
Turkish government of AKP party has destroyed the even biased justice system of Turkey to make it an appendage of the political government and of the AKP party. When the current government of AKP allowed the terrorist Islamist and illegal grouping of Fethullah Gülen, a personal and a dear friend of the current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to infiltrate into state organizations, it also allowed Gülen to take over several departments of the government and organize to defeat their common enemies, the opposition. The Police, security and the Justice departments became the cesspool of Gülen’s operatives where his spying and illegal operations thrived.
When Erdoğan and Gülen, the comrades in their quest for dominance, fell apart, Erdoğan’s only defense against the infiltrated Gülen operatives and spies in these departments, as well as in others such as Education, was to fire and/or arrest whomever they could find and appoint those who were only loyal to the current government. The independence and trustworthiness of these departments tanked as they became only an extension of the executive branch of the central AKP government.
The government appointed judges fought tooth and nail alongside the government officials to eliminate any opposition that may threaten the political power of AKP. As a result Turkey became one of the top countries where journalists were imprisoned.
The Federation of European Journalists, EFJ, published its criticism of Turkey on its attack against the media workers, calling Turkey to cease its persecution of journalists.
The call is as the following:
“The presidents of the European commission and council, Ursula von der Leyenand Charles Michel, will meet on Monday evening Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over his decision to open his border to migrants travelling to Europe. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) call on European leaders to demand that Erdogan release 94 journalists imprisoned in Turkey for doing their job.
“Though the number of jailed journalists in Turkey declined slightly, from 110 at the beginning of 2019 to 91 by the close of the year (94 on this date), Turkey remains a highly repressive environment for journalists. Turkish authorities and courts continue to deliberately conflate critical journalism with terrorist activity.
“The EFJ and IFJ calls on EU leaders to put pressure on Turkey in order to put an end to the politicization of the courts, to reform anti-terror legislation, and to restore democratic norms. The European commission and council should use the negotiations about the 2020 Enlargement Package to improve the state of rule of law in Turkey.”
The statement could be found at : https://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2020/03/09/eu-leaders-must-call-on-erdogan-to-release-journalists-imprisoned-in-turkey/
Sendika.org News (M.B.)
