Bianet Awarded with National Prize for Press Freedom

The Journalists Association of Turkey  (TGC) distributed this year's Prize for Press Freedom in a ceremony in the historic Dolmabahçe Palace on the European banks of Istanbul on Saturday (24 July). The personal award went to Hürriyet newspaper writer Sedat Ergin. Journalists İrfan Aktan, İsmail Saymaz and Vedat Kurşun were awarded on behalf of all journalists facing imprisonment or currently being detained. The institutional award was given to bianet.

bianet was awarded for "their work in the field of alternative and rights-based journalism and for their efforts in the fields of developing democracy, the right to be informed and establishing awareness among the people".

Freedom of Expression editor Erol Önderoğlu accepted the award on behalf of bianet from Vahap Munyar, vice president of the TGC. Önderoğlu said, "I accept this award on behalf of my twelve colleagues working at bianet. We would like to thank the members of the TGC Jury. We have been warning about anti-democratic regulations for the last ten years, yet our voices did not reach the politicians. With the current violations of press freedom we went back to the 1990s".

Önderoğlu emphasized that even if prison threats would be lifted from the Press Law, sentences handed down under the Criminal Law are being postponed for various reasons and at the same time the number of people punished under the Anti-Terror Law is rising day by day. And these convictions, Önderoğlu warned, show the concealed power of the political power. "Unfortunately, we are not far away anymore from the days when we have to leave our colleagues at the prison doors", he continued.

Criticism of the TCK

TGC President Orhan Erinç indicated that 45 journalists are detained and tried under allegations of having committed crimes on behalf of an illegal organization in the scope of their journalistic work. "When some decisions of the high judiciary are taken into account, the possibility to ignore the statements made by the journalists telling that the times spent under arrests have become an execution of penalty and that they are being exposed to cruelty is becoming less and less".

Erinç criticized the postponement of the pronouncement of the judgement and called it "the beginning of a controlled freedom of expression". He continued, "Our colleagues are facing imprisonment and compensation claims in 700 cases opened against them under various articles of the Turkish Criminal Law. We cannot call this a free society. Despite the fact that the existence of free journalists is possible, we have to warn the authorities once more".

Ergin furthermore said, "Today we also celebrate the end of censorship. A new trial is opened against one of our colleagues every day. Press freedom is also an indicator for the country's democracy".

"Award goes to prison"

The award for imprisoned journalist Vedat Kurşun, former chief editor of the Kurdish Azadiya Welat newspaper, was received by his father, Şükrü Kurşun. His father greeted the guest of the ceremony in Kurdish and said, "My son Vedat Kurşun did not kill anybody and did not violate anybody's rights. He was sentenced to 166 years and six months in prison because he wrote the truth. I call upon the people in Turkey and all over the world, everybody has to protect freedom of thought. Unfortunately, this award will go to prison".

The ceremony was also attended by journalists Füsun Özbilgen, Oral Çalışlar, Altan Öymen, İpek Çalışlar, Murat Utku, Şükran Soner , Yalçın Bayer , Emre Aygen , Ayda Özlü Çevik, Levent Çevik,  Çiğdem Öztürk, Leyla Umar , Necmi Tanyolaç and Nadire Mater; unionist Ali Er, publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, human rights defenders Şanar Yurdatapan, Gamze Göker and Tayfun Mater, photographer Ali Öz, bianet writer Sue Marsh Akyel, Yahya Akyel and Aysel Sağır

24 July is the anniversary of the lifting of censorship. (EÖ/VK)