Turkey Drops Off to 151st on Press Freedom Ranking

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2016 World Press Freedom Index has been announced. Turkey has been ranked as 151st seeing a fall from 149th compared with the last year.

Turkey has also taken place among the countries which “regressed most”.

While the top five countries have been listed as Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and New Zealand, bottom five consisted of Eritrea, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Syria, and China in the index of 180 countries.

Ahead of Turkey, there are countries such as South Sudan, Mexica, Pakistan, and Russia.

The most regressing countries are Tajikistan and Brunei. Brunei is ranked as 155th, and Tajikistan is ranked as 150th, one rank above Turkey.

The most positive progress in the index is Tunisia with its rise of 30 ranks. Tunisia has climbed to 96th from 126th on the ranking.

Turkey assessment

The report highlighted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s crackdown on media:

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has embarked on an offensive against Turkey’s media. Journalists are harassed, many have been accused of ‘insulting the president’ and the Internet is systematically censored.

“The regional context – the war in Syria and Turkey’s offensive against the PKK Kurds – is exacerbating the pressure on the media, which are also accused of ‘terrorism.’

“The media and civil society are nonetheless resisting Erdogan’s growing authoritarianism”. (EA/TK)