"Nothing to Celebrate"

There is no press day to celebrate and there is no Day of Journalists worthy to be commemorated any more", the steering board of the Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) announced on 10 January, the Day of Working Journalists.

The ÇGD criticized lay-offs and arrests of journalists. "The month of January was nothing else but obliterating the murders of [journalists] Uğur Mumcu, Metin Göktepe and Hrant Dink, their murderers and the instigators in the deepness of the state, the journalists' organization stated. In a written statement, the ÇGD touched upon the following issues:

"With the Press Law (No.212), first the Press Day was celebrated and after the coup in 1971 the Journalists' Day. Media bosses protested the law that had brought favourable provisions for workers in 1961 and decided to suspend the publication of newspapers as a means of protest. The press workers opposed this resistance and published the papers after having seized the printing houses. Right now, press freedom and freedom of expression are in a worse situation than 51 years ago".

"This law brought important rights to press workers. The gains of the journalists were pruned during the 51 years in between. Unionization has decreased, the 'right to depreciation' was lifted, sub-contracting became widespread, job security was abolished, working without social security and lay-offs became commonplace. The ÇGD has nothing to celebrate on press day and does not have a Day of Journalists any more".

The ÇGD demanded the release of all detained journalists, the removal of Special Authority Courts and the democratization of laws that restrict press freedom and freedom of expression. (AS/VK)