‘Journalists cannot write news in Turkey any longer,’ says CHP’s Tanrıkulu

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After Abdul Hamid II declared the 2nd Constitutional Monarchy in the late Ottoman period, newspapers started to be published without any censorships for the first time on July 24, 1908. Accordingly, July 24 is observed as the "Journalists and Press Day" in Turkey.

On this occasion, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu has made a statement.

Reminding the public that at least 721 journalists were arrested from 2002, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power, to 2019, Tanrıkulu has said, "With the AKP governments, Turkey has dropped behind even 1908 and journalists 'cannot write' news in Turkey now."

"On the one side, thousands of journalists who refuse to obey the AKP are fired from their jobs; on the other side, working journalists have to deal with investigations, lawsuits, detentions-arrest and publications bans."

Raising concerns about the "pro-government media outlets' involvement in a network of dirty political and economic relations," he has noted that "very few people worry about 'press freedom' as, rather than the news, these media outlets calculate the tenders to be won or lost due to news."

"The day of journalists will be literally marked when censorship/self-censorship and detention/arrest conditions are eliminated, in other words, when Turkey finally has a government which is based on democracy, rule of law, judicial independence, human rights and respect."

'Turkey ranks 154th in press freedom'

Within this context, the MP has also referred to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where Turkey scores 50.02 points and ranks 154th among 180 countries:

"Having ranked 157th the year before, Turkey seems to progress by three ranks; but, it is not because of any improvement on the side of Turkey, but due to the deterioration in other countries, coupled with the release of some journalists with the adoption of 1st Judicial Reform Package."

Sezgin Tanrıkulu has also shared the following figures about the current situation of journalism in Turkey ahead of July 24 Press Day:

* As of July 17, 2020, at least 93 journalists and media workers are in prisons in Turkey, either as arrestees or convicts.

* The number of unemployed journalists is over 10 thousand. As for the working journalists, the yellow press cards of those who are not pro-government have been cancelled.

* In the first six-month period;

At least 19 journalists, writers and publishers were sentenced to prison. Dozens of journalists faced investigations or lawsuits.

At least 16 journalists were arrested.

At least 52 journalists were taken into custody.

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Press Advertising Institution (BİK) and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) imposed publication and broadcast bans, public ad cuts, broadcast/program suspensions and fines on at least 158 media organizations and websites.

(According to figures shared by the Freedom of Expression Association for May 2020, access to 415 thousand domains, 42 thousand tweets, 12 thousand 450 YouTube pages, 7 thousand 200 Twitter accounts and 6 thousand Facebook accounts has been blocked.)

At least five journalists were subjected to physical/armed attacks. Several journalists, politicians, local administrators were threatened by law enforcement.

* Only in June;

Two journalists were arrested and six journalists were detained.

Three journalists were sentenced to prison and the sentence of one journalist was upheld by the Court of Cassation. Five journalists faced investigations and a lawsuit was filed against one journalist.

Two TV channels were fined. An access block was imposed on at least 65 Internet content. The public ads of one newspaper were cut for 45 days.

One mayor threatened the journalists who reported news about him. One journalist was injured in an armed attack and one journalist was threatened. (RT/SD)