United States spokesperson expresses concern on press freedom in Turkey
United States spokesperson expresses concern once again on press freedom in Turkey
The attitude of the administration in Turkey towards press freedom and journalists is not welcome by the western world and the USA in specific, obviously.
Because in reply to a question forwarded by a journalist in a a press briefing on Wednesday about the Islamic State, John KIRBY, Spokesperson for the United States Department of State said “Turkey is an ally and a good friend and a key contributor to the coalition against Daesh. And we want nothing more than to see Turkey succeed and to see their democracy reach its full potential”
It might be noteworthy to remember similar statements expressing same discontent have been made by multiple official spokespeople for the USA several times, recently.
Upon a question that went “Is the USA happy that there hasn’t been a demonstrable change in terms of treatment of journalists in Turkey?” KIRBY referred to “the worrisome trend of a limit on press freedom in Turkey”, reiterating “principles enshrined in its own constitution”.
KIRBY also said “U.S. authorities have been frankly pointing out their concerns on press freedom, not only from the podium, but also privately with Turkish officials” adding “Now, I can’t speak about President Erdogan’s motivations and I wouldn’t do that. I would only say that – I’d only repeat what I said before and that’s that we value our relationship with Turkey. We certainly value our alliance with them through NATO. And we appreciative the efforts that they’re making as a member of the coalition against Islamic State, which are not insignificant – not to forget the fact that they’ve got millions of refugees on their side of the border that they’re taking care of”.
BTT
