Human Rights in Turkey: Is Turkish Press Freedom in Danger?
- The last
week of November marked another phase of an ongoing shift in the
Turkish Government´s approach to human rights issues – Two important
events highlighted the ongoing attack freedom of press is suffering in
Turkey. First two prominent Turkish journalists were arrested after
publishing a story claiming that members of the state intelligence
agency had provided weapons to Syrian rebels; second, lawyer and leading
human rights defender and Tahir Elçi, President of the Diyarbakir Bar
Association in south eastern Turkey, was killed in crossfire while
making a press statement on Saturday 28th of November.
The
Government´s reaction has fueled concerns about a sweeping media
crackdown, which escalated just before the country´s national elections
in November 1st. Since the Justice Development Party (AKP) was
re-elected, under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, conditions for
media freedom have gradually deteriorated even further.
The
present government has enacted laws expanding the state´s capacity to
control independent media. The government has now an increased authority
to block websites and the surveillance capacity of the National
Intelligence Organization (MIT) has been strengthened. Journalists are
currently facing unprecedented legal obstacles, while courts´ capacity
to persecute corruption is circumscribed by references to “national
security.” To regulate various media outlets, authorities are making use
of the Penal Code, criminal defamation laws and an antiterrorism law.
As
a direct result of mass protests in the summer of 2013, the Turkish
government tightened its control over media and the internet even
further. Followed by corruption allegations in December the same year,
the government intensified its control over the criminal justice system
and reassigned judges, prosecutors, and police in order to exercise a
greater control over the country´s already politicized freedom of the
press.
In 2013, during a corruption scandal revealed through
leaks to social media of phone calls implicating ministers and their
family members, the Turkish government reacted by shutting down Twitter
and YouTube for several weeks and introducing an even more restrictive
Internet Law than the one already in existence. However, the internet
sites were reopened after the Constitutional Court had ruled against the
Government measures.
