CFWIJ: Turkey ranks first in legal harassment of women journalists

Kurdish journalists protesting the arrest of their colleagues (File photo)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Turkey has the highest rate of legal harassment against women journalists in the world and ranks second in the number of women journalists imprisoned, according to a new report by the Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ).

"The Turkish government leads the list of countries weaponizing the law to silence women journalists," says the report covering the first quarter of 2023, noting that Turkey had also topped this list in the first quarter of the last year.

Kurdish women journalists are targeted most by the government, using terrorism charges to censor and persecute them, the report highlights.

Furthermore, based on CFWIJ data, Turkey ranks second in the world for the highest number of incarcerated women journalists, following Iran. As of April 30th, the report states that there are 28 women journalists imprisoned in Iran, 19 in Turkey, and 15 in China.

Harassment during earthquake coverage

The CFWIJ report also brings attention to the distressing reality faced by journalists, particularly women journalists, during the coverage of the massive earthquakes in Turkey in February.

Similar to the first quarter of 2022, Turkey has the highest number of legal harassment cases

"A climate of distrust of media workers, particularly journalists with foreign media outlets, has been consistently cultivated by the Turkish government. Negative political rhetoric targeting the press can create hostility, leading to threats against journalists and media outlets.

"The litany of assaults on journalists covering the country after the earthquakes show how dangerous this rhetoric can be. Mobs of private citizens threatened and assaulted women journalists for simply recording disaster sites." (EMK/VK)