‘Treason’ in Turkey

Prosecutors wage war on suspected coup conspirators—but at what cost to the country?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/02/19/democracy-is-the-victim-in-turkey-s-war-on-coup-conspirators.html

by Owen Matthews  | February 20, 2012 12:00 AM EST

Turkey’s reform-minded Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is nothing like his iron-fisted Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin—right? Think again. In both leaders’ countries, journalists who dare to criticize the government often end up behind bars. In Erdogan’s Turkey, as in Putin’s Russia, the ruling clique’s political adversaries have been hounded by courts and police and have spent months or years in jail without trial, while oppositionist businessmen have been slapped with ruinous tax bills. On at least two dismal indices, Turkey ranks even worse than Russia: Reporters Without Borders’ latest Press Freedom Index puts Turkey in 148th place, behind Russia at 142, and the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of 174 violations last year, while runner-up Russia had 133.

Erdogan vs. Auster: Why Is the Turkish Prime Minister Feuding with a Brooklyn-based Writer?

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/02/04/erdogan-vs-auster-why-is-the-turkish-prime-minister-feuding-with-a-brooklyn-based-writer/

Pelin Turgut, February 4, 2012

An Internet-fueled war of words raged across the Atlantic this week between the unlikeliest of opponents: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an Islamic-leaning politician of fiery rhetoric and oft-bellicose disposition, and the erudite Brooklyn-based American novelist Paul Auster. At issue was the state of press freedom in Turkey, which currently ranks alongside China in the number of journalists it has jailed.

Turkey’s Censorship Puzzle

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jody-sabral/turkeys-censorship-puzzle_b_1232562.html

Jody Sabral, January 26, 2012, Huffington Post

Turkey has surpassed the likes of China, Iran and Russia, when it comes to the number of journalists/authors in prison, many of whom are being held without charge. At the time of writing this, anywhere between 70 to 100 journalists/authors sit in Turkish cells, their pens silenced for having an opinion on events unfolding in their own country. Many are internationally recognised for ground breaking work, uncovering corruption and organised crime. This can mean only one thing – free speech is becoming a thing of the past in Turkey, or is it?

Erdogan, Justice and the Rule of Law

January 10, 2012; Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/46463fa0-3b8e-11e1-bb39-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1jEsSMlIG

Since coming to power in 2002 Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has led his country some way down the road to becoming a more open and liberal democracy. But a report on Turkey’s judicial system published by the Council of Europe this week highlights the increasingly halting nature of this advance.

The report cites “longstanding, systemic shortcomings in the administration of justice in Turkey (that) adversely affect the enjoyment of human rights”. These include lengthy proceedings and detentions, sometimes up to 10 years; the use of secret witnesses; arrests of scores of journalists; and uncertainty about the judiciary’s independence from the executive.

Turkey’s War on Journalists

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/12/22/turkeys_war_on_journalists?page=full

As Prime Minister Erdogan’s government grows increasingly intolerant of dissent, the media is bearing the brunt of its effort to silence its critics.

BY ALIA MALEK | DECEMBER 22, 2011

ISTANBUL —When the terrorism trial of jailed Turkish journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener began in Istanbul on Nov. 22, only a handful of their colleagues — far fewer than expected — gathered in protest outside the courthouse that will decide their fate.

A mosaic of the smiling photographs of many of Turkey’s detained journalists was laid out on the ground at the foot of a swarm of TV tripods, their cameras aiming for a glimpse of the defendants. Sik and Sener’s case is perhaps the most high-profile example of what critics see as the Turkish government’s crackdown on critical voices, which has transformed it into one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists.

Journalists detained in Turkey

December 20, 2011 06:17 PM By Suzan Fraser ,  http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Dec-20/157436-journalists-detained-in-turkey.ashx#axzz1h6xDY3Pb

A plainclothes policeman escorts Agence France Presse (AFP) photographer Mustafa Ozer to a police van. (AP Photo)

ANKARA: Turkish police on Tuesday detained some 40 people, including journalists, as part of a growing investigation into a Kurdish group that prosecutors accuse of links to Kurdish rebels, the country’s state-run television said.

The private Dogan news agency said Mustafa Ozer, a photographer working for the French news agency, Agence France Presse, and journalists for Kurdish media organizations were among the detained. Photographs obtained by The Associated Press show Ozer smiling as he is being led by a plain-clothed police officer into a van.

Is Turkey Using the Courts to Silence Critics?

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2100227,00.html

By PELIN TURGUT / ISTANBUL Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011

ENLARGE PHOTO+

Journalists and human-rights activists protest in front of the Istanbul courthouse during the trial of two prominent Turkish journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener on Nov. 22, 2011

Mustafa Ozer / AFP / Getty Images

Nine months after they were first detained, two well-known and internationally acclaimed Turkish investigative journalists finally appeared before a judge on Tuesday in a trial that has become a rallying point for critics of Turkey’s curbs on freedom of expression. Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener are among 13 defendants, including editors of a hard-line secularist website, accused of seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic-leaning government — charges that international observers say have little evidence to support them.

Turkey must overhaul media freedom laws – envoy

By Ibon Villelabeitia

ANKARA | Tue Nov 15, 2011 8:55am EST, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/15/turkey-media-idUSL5E7MF2IB20111115

Nov 15 (Reuters) – European Union candidateTurkey needs to change its attitude to media freedom and laws under which more than 50 Turkish journalists languish in Turkish jails, the head of the Council of Europe human rights body said on Tuesday.

“We clearly have a situation that needs to be solved so that Turkey moves forward,” secretary general Thorbjorn Jagland told a group of foreign journalists in Ankara during a visit.

Imprisoned Journalist Nedim Sener deserves a free trial

Why This Is Important

“I was ready to pay the price to reveal the truth.” When Turkish author, investigative reporter, and International Press Institute (IPI) World Press Freedom Hero Nedim Şener published his 2007 book on the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, he understood the peril faced by journalists in Turkey.

Mr. Şener is now paying that price. Last week, he spent his 250th day in prison, though he has not been convicted of any crime. Next week, on 22 November, he is scheduled to face a first hearing on apparently baseless charges that he belongs to an armed terrorist group.

This March, Mr. Şener was arrested and accused of being part of the so-called Ergenekon plot, in which an alleged clandestine ultra-nationalist organisation with ties to military and security forces is said to have plotted to use terrorism to overthrow the government. The investigation against Mr. Şener is being carried out by the same law-enforcement figures whom he accused of neglect in his book on Hrant Dink.