Turkey continues to receive criticism from European Union over press freedom issue
Following the failed coup attempt the Turkish Government has introduced many measures to gain full control against any act to threaten its existence and tightened several democratic rights to the extent of receiving heavy criticism from western world and EU in the first place. Indeed The European Parliament has most recently called on Ankara to release all journalists in prison without proof of alleged involvement in the July 15 failed coup attempt.
Meeting in Strasbourg, the parliamentarians have passed a resolution calling on Turkey to “narrow the scope of emergency measures, so that they can no longer be used to curtail freedom of expression.” In that meeting, they asked the EU’s foreign service, the European External Action Service, to continue monitoring the implications of the ongoing state of emergency to ensure Ankara did not use the “broadly defined Turkish anti-terrorism legislation” to punish journalists and others.
Turkey last week extended its state of emergency, declared in the wake of the coup at-tempt on July 15, for another 90 days. At least 32,000 people have been arrested since Ju-ly, among them soldiers, police officers, teachers, members of the judiciary and the press. According to the latest figures from watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Turkish authorities have shut down at least 125 media outlets in recent months.
More than 2,500 journalists have lost their jobs due to the closures, and at least 130 journalists are currently in prison, more than in China or Iran. According to the Turkish Journalists’ Association, the journalists have been denied the right of access to a lawyer and are kept in inhumane conditions. “Turkey has become the world’s biggest prison for journalists,” said Julie Majerczak, head of the RSF Brussels office. In its latest World Press Freedom index, RSF ranked Turkey 151 out of 180 countries – and, as Majerczak pointed out, the ranking was made before the at-tempted coup.
SOURCE: MEDIA
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