Report Offers Solutions on Freer Press in Turkey

Center for American Progress released its report on Freedom of the Press and Expression – a comprehensive document that also included recommendations for a free freer press in Turkey.

“During the late 1980s and early 1990s, journalists were targeted and sometimes killed by actors ranging from ultranationalists to Islamists, far leftists to the Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK, who seek Kurdish autonomy and greater legal and cultural protections,” the report said.

It stated that current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP has successfully defused much of the violence that characterized the extreme polarization of Turkish society in those years since coming to power in 2003. On the other hand, the report reminded on the number of jailed journalists, mostly from the Kurdish media.  

“If PM Erdoğan and AKP want to change the anti-democratic tradition in Turkey, they must emphasize on the expression freedom and public discussion of dissident ideas.”

 “The United States and Turkey have a solid strategic partnership on which to build, but in the long run, deepening this association—which is in both countries’ national interest and is sought by many on both sides—will require a shared understanding of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”

Some of the highlights from the report included:

* Turkey’s crisis of press freedom extends beyond the outright silencing of journalists through imprisonment.

* Journalists and editors also report pressure on content from owners, leading to fears of dismissal. Most recently, veteran journalist Hasan Cemal was dismissed from Milliyet newspaper for defending the publication of minutes from a meeting between representatives of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, and the PKK leader Abdullah Ӧcalan. The leaked minutes provided fodder for nationalist critics of the peace process, angering Prime Minister Erdoğan, who publicly criticized Milliyet and condemned Cemal’s column on the subject, declaring, “If this is journalism, down with it!” Such public condemnation from a sitting prime minister brought tremendous pressure to bear on Milliyet’s owner, who refused to publish a subsequent column and then fired Cemal.

* The cross-ownership of media entities can open up reporters, editors, and owners to a variety of pressures, confronting dissident journalists to lose employment.

* The latest reforms – publicly known as 4^th Judicial Package- do not address the fundamental problems with the judicial system or the constitution and still leaves room for abuse under the “public order” clause.

* The Kurdish issue must be addressed through negotiation; military force alone will not solve the problem.

* The United States can and should do more to encourage its partner to more fully embrace its role as a modern democracy..

Click here to access on the full report. (EA/BM)