Claudia Roth, Co-Chair of the German Green Party and member of the European Union Greens, held a press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Istanbul on Thursday (28 July). The press meeting came one day after Roth was refused permission to visit detained journalists Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener at the Silivri Prison.

Permission for visit came during the press conference

In the middle of the press conference, Roth received a surprising telephone call from the Silivri Prison and was told that permission for the visit of the journalists had been granted.

The previous day, the prison administration had kept Roth waiting for about two hours at the Silivri Prison before she was told that she would not be able to see the journalists. The German politician was told during the press conference that she was now allowed to meet Şık and Şener on Thursday afternoon at 4.00 pm.

Roth reminded that the reason put forward to prohibit her from visiting the journalists was the fact that her application had not been submitted 15 days prior to her planned visit. She commented, "They did not give permission just two hours ago, now they do. That means that they are either making fun of us or someone intervened 'in justice'".

Roth remarked that the initial denial of the permission was a demonstration of power.

She noted that the imprisonment of 70 journalists in Turkey meant a criminalization of journalism. Roth pointed out that this situation directed journalists towards fear and auto-censorship. (...) (EKN/VK)