Freedom of the press in Turkey: Zehra, Deniz, Yakup – accused of journalism

Deniz Yücel has been in custody for a year. The accusation: terror propaganda. There is no charge to date. A total of 156 journalists are detained.

Freedom of the press in Turkey: Zehra, Deniz, Yakup – accused of journalism

Since March 2017, time online has documented cases of detained journalists in Turkey and – if possible – since when and for what reasons y were detained (see list at end of article). Currently we know of 156 cases. Most are accused of membership or support for a terrorist organisation.

At beginning of year 2018 re was some hope for detainees: Turkish Constitutional Court ruled by a narrow majority that continuing whereabouts of journalists Mehmet Altan and Şahin Alpay in custody violated ir rights. It was expected that or detainees would also benefit from verdict. But for a short time, criminal courts opposed claim to release Altan and Alpay, even though judgments of Constitutional Court must be enforced.

Also world correspondent Deniz Yücel has complained before Constitutional Court, his case is to be negotiated shortly. Yücel sits in Turkish detention for a year. The 44-year-old has not yet been heard before a court. Anders Meşale Tolu from Ulm: After more than seven months, she was released from custody, but only under conditions. It is not allowed to leave Turkey and has to report to authorities once a week. In proceedings, Tolu is accused of being a member of left-wing extremist MLKP. For this you threaten up to 20 years of imprisonment.

The number of journalists detained had declined at end of year 2017/2018. However, Turkish military offensive, which began on 20 January and was directed against Kurdish militias in north of Syria, has again brought more and more journalists into police custody. Between 20th and 24th of January alone, re were 150 arrests, which were directed against critics and critics of military mission, reported platform for Independent journalism, P24. Among detained were journalists and politicians. Most of m were released after several hours or a few days.

Who, when, why – Time online documents

The placement of EU candidate Turkey on list of press freedom of Reporters Without borders deteriorated visibly since failed coup attempt in summer of 2016: The country fell from place 151 to place 155 – with a total of 180 listed states.

There is no specific indictment against many of detained journalists, and accusations are often vaguely formulated. For ors, one can only assume that arrest is related to ir journalistic work. For President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in any case, a journalist is already in common with terrorist structures when conducting interviews.

A pre-trial detention in Turkey may take up to five years because of current state of emergency.

Date Of Update: 15 February 2018, 12:04
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