Opposition journalists speak at U.N. panel on Turkey’s human rights record


Date posted: March 9, 2019

Two exiled Turkish journalists spoke on a United Nations human rights panel on Turkey’s human rights violations and jailed journalists despite attempts by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cancel the session, state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.

Abdullah Bozkurt, former Ankara chief for the now-defunct, Gülen-linked newspaper Today’s Zaman, and also defunct Meydan editor-in-chief Levent Kenez, participated in the panel at the U.N. Office in Geneva during the 40th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Turkish government accuses the two of membership in the Gülen movement, a religious group led by Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based cleric Ankara accuses of leading a terrorist organisation that orchestrated the July 2016 coup attempt to topple the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The government has implemented crackdown on media, among other sectors, following the failed putsch with Turkey becoming a leading country of jailed journalists.

Pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah reported on Kenez and Bozkurt’s participation in the panel, referring to the two as “terrorists.”

Kenez took to Twitter to say that Turkey’s foreign ministry had unsuccessfully tried to cancel the panel.

Bozkurt also posted on the panel on Twitter, saying, “As a panelist, I joined a discussion about #Turkey at the United Nations’s Geneva office during UN Human Rights Council #HRC40 . Told about rights violations, and how @RT_Erdogan has jailed journalist to cover its tracks with armed jihadists thugs in #Syria .”

Kenez and Bozkurt have both fled Turkey following Ankara’s crackdown on the Gülen movement.

Following the failed coup attempt, about 200 media outlets in Turkey were shut down under the state of emergency decree that lasted until July 2018.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) placed Turkey 157th out of 180 countries on its World Press Freedom Index in 2018, down two from the previous year, and called Turkey the “world’s biggest jailer of journalists” in its 2018 report.

Source: AhvalNews , March 6, 2019

Tags: | | |


Related News

Celebrating Ramadan with Turkish asylum seekers

Haldun and his wife, Funda, fled Turkey about two years ago with their three daughters and are now seeking political asylum in the United States because if they go back to Turkey they face arrest and likely torture. Once a successful manufacturer of washing machine products, Haldun, Funda and their children are now a family without a country; their factory turned over to a government trustee, their passports taken away, and their property and belongings nationalized.

13 recommendations to MGK secretary for inclusion in ‘Red Book’

The president pays attention to the current National Security Council (MGK). He is determined to declare Hizmet a terror organization. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is not interested in the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Kobani, Syria, the approximately 3 million refugees and the murder of 40 people in violent protests. His only concern is Hizmet. Given that the MGK is designed to be a place to discuss personal concerns, I, as a citizen, would like to raise some points of recommendation for the MGK secretary-general for possible inclusion on the agenda of the council.

Reassignments — new mobbing on massive scale by gov’t to silence dissent

According to commentators, the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party), through these reassignments, is not only putting pressure on those carrying out the graft probes but also sending a message to its critics in state positions that their fate will be no different from that of their reassigned colleagues if they do not desist from their criticism of the government.

Parents protest demolition of Fatih College wall

Parents from Merter Fatih College gathered in front of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality building on Wednesday to protest the demolition the wall of the school as well as a security cabin in the school’s courtyard by municipal teams in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Germany informs Gülen sympathizers about Turkish Intel surveillance

German authorities have informed Turks linked with the Gülen movement about Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) surveillance in Germany. German experts concluded that most of the photos of 300 Turks and 200 schools, associations and organizations that are connected to the Gülen movement were taken secretly by surveillance cameras.

Body of Turkish woman fleeing to Greece found weeks after boat capsized

Turkish authorities have found the body of Aslı Doğan, a Turkish woman who went missing after a refugee boat carrying eight people capsized in the river that marks the border of Turkey and Greece on Feb. 13, 2018.

Latest News

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

After Reunion: A Quiet Transformation Within the Hizmet Movement

Erdogan’s Failed Crusade: The World Rejects His War on Hizmet

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

In Case You Missed It

Baseless allegations damage publicly traded firms

Gulen-linked org’s statement on Turkish Govt’s arrest of pro-Kurdish Parliamentarians

Enes Kanter: “I’m getting death threats almost every day”

Cleric Accused Of Plotting Turkish Coup Attempt: ‘I Have Stood Against All Coups’

Turkish President calls for calm as gov’t defuses tension with Gülen movement

Turkey: ‘Exclusion for all’ state

Turkish school shelters locals in earthquake-hit Nepal

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News