Keyword: Freedoms
Turkey sees unprecedented pressure on media since Dec. 14 operation
Monday marks the first anniversary of a government-backed operation against prominent media groups in the country that resulted in the detention of dozens of individuals, mostly high ranked media personnel, and ever since that day pressure on critical journalists and news outlets has skyrocketed in the country, leading to the take-over and even closure of many media outlets and the incarceration of many journalists.
The latest step by AKP-Gov’t witch-hunt against Hizmet Movement
In Turkey, the increasing pressure over the freedom of press, property rights and authoritarianism have reached an alarming level. A recent report on the rule of law and respect for human rights inTurkey declared that Turkish government had been perpetrating systematic human rights violations since December 2013.
Government Seizure of Koza Ipek
On Monday October 26, 2015, upon a request by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ankara 5th Criminal Peace Magistrate ordered that Koza Ipek Holding (with 22 companies) be put under receivership. Trustees from the pro-government Sabah-ATV media group were appointed to replace the current board of directors. After CNN Turk announced the receivership, the shares of Turkish mining firm Koza Altin slid more than 5 percent.
Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş released pending trial
The İstanbul 8th Penal Court of Peace ruled on Wednesday to release Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş pending trial after deliberating on a petition by the lawyers of Keneş, who was arrested on Saturday and detained at Silivri Prison.
Int’l press organizations call for release of journalist Keneş, condemn arrest
New York-based press advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Turkish authorities to immediately release Today’s Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş, condemning the arrest as a “relentless crackdown” on the press.
Criminal complaint filed against media organizations publishing Gülen’s speeches
An organization called the Law and Democracy Foundation which was established by lawyer Mehmet Ali Canlı, a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) hopeful in the June 7 general election, on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against media organizations that publish the speeches of Fethullah Gülen, a renowned Islamic scholar.
On front lines of fight for press freedom in Turkey
“I’m happy to be a journalist despite all the stress and pressure we’ve been under from the government,” Akarcesme said last Tuesday during a visit to the newspaper’s offices by group of Capital Region journalists and academics led by the Turkish Cultural Center of Albany.
Turkey: Democracy in peril – A human rights report
In a springtime of hope, the first decade of the 21st century, Turks and outside observers shared a dream that Turkey might become that bright star in an otherwise muddled constellation of the Middle East—a real democracy in a predominantly Muslim country, committed to civil liberty, human rights, pluralism, and civil society. That hope has disappeared as but a short- lived meteor in the dark, troubled sky. It is no more; and there is little optimism for its return in the foreseeable future. Turkey’s democracy is in regression.
