"Press Freedom is Information, not Criticism of the Government"

European Parliament Human Rights Subcommittee President Heidi Hautala participated in the General Assembly of the European Journalists Federation (EFJ) with a video message. She stated, "Laws on press freedom are not being impelmented sufficiently. The civil society plays an important role since there is not enough monitoring. Pressure is inflicted on rights defenders since Nationalism is still a strong force in Turkey".

The Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) hosted the event in Zeytinburnu (European side of Istanbul) on Saturday (17 April). In her video message, Hautala referred to the BİA Media Monitoring Report from the third quarter of 2009 published by the Independent Communication Network (BİA). According to the report, 190 people were facing prison sentences or compensation claims in the months of July, August and September, 74 of them were journalists. Hautala emphasized the examples of human rigthts defenders Eren Keskin and Rıdvan Kızgın.

EFJ President Arne König and TGS President Ercan İpekçi gave the opening speech on the topic of "Trade Union Perspectives: Journalism and Press Freedom in Europe". Guy Ryder, Secretary General of the International Labour Unions Confederation (ITUC), and Mustafa Türkel, former Secretary General of the Turkish Confederation of Labour Unions (Türk-İş) spoke on "Industrial Threats, Change in Relations of Work Force and Unionist Perspectives".

König: Reports are not really promising

EFJ President König indicated, "When I came to Turkey as a reporter for the first time in the 1980s, the situation of the journalists was dramatic. However, we are aware of the fact that reports on press freedom issued in recent years are still not very promising".

Türmen: Free to move within the given limits

Former judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Rıza Türmen stated, "The ECHR's decision regarding the tolerance of politicians should be put up in bold letters for Turkish politicians".

"It cannot be said that the government has silenced the opposition as a whole. You are free as long as you move within the given limits. In this respect, press freedom means informing the people and not criticizing the government", Türmen pointed out.

Hautala: Action is needed to decrease the pressure

Hautala said that Turkey has become a part of Europe and she read authors such as Elif Şafak and Orhan Pamuk in order to better understand this journey.

"There are important and vivid discussions going on in Turkey concerned with a modern and transparent democracy. For us, this is part of the warrants of society. Turkey tries to do what it can in terms of the European Convention of Human Rights, yet article 301 is still in effect. [Aritcle 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code bans "insults" to the Turkish state.] We do not see any attempt to decrease the pressure imposed on freedom of speech in Turkey".

Another topic to be discussed at the EFJ General Assembly was a proposal regarding difficulties encountered by Turkish journalists in using union rights and related to deficiencies in press freedom in Turkey and in Europe.

The meeting was attended by delegations from 85 newspapers and observers from 26 European countries. Orhan Erinç, President of the Turkish Journalists' Society (TGC), Şükran Soner, Doğan Tılıç and Sultan Özer participated from Turkey, Hüseyin Yalyalı attended from Northern Cyprus. König and Hautala claimed that problems related to press freedom arouse in quite many European countries. (EÖ/VK)