An opinion: Does Press Freedom exist in Turkey (or not)?

In a period of time the ruling party in Turkey claims to have taken giant steps on the way to prime democracy, it is truly surprising (if not disappointing) to hear that the administration is seriously criticized by foreign sources regarding the “high number of violations of freedom” and “restriction of the freedom of media” in specific.

In fact, a report prepared by an EU commission also mentions that “the imprisonment of journalists and the confiscation of unpublished manuscripts” do not conform with EU practice and thus have raised concerns over the issue.

The report prepared by Stefan Füle (EU commissioner responsible for enlargement) assesses developments of the past 12 months and focuses on concerns regarding freedom of expression and media freedom – which take up quite some space as compared to last year’s report.

The much criticized journalist arrests last spring and media reaction in response, are also referred to in said report.

The paradox is however that there has certainly been some progress in Turkey recently regarding “freedom of speech” as observed in cases like “the media and the society discussing those matters regarded as sensitive such as the Kurdish issue and the Armenian issue”  in an open and free way, now.

When we look at the other side of the picture though we can see a high number of journalist arrests for reasons hard to be verified as per EU regulations and practice. To be even worse we can also observe extended detainments and even imprisonments to exceed years which would in no way be acceptable in a western democracy.

We also know that many journalists were detained in the past few years and have been in prison ever since without even having been notified the charges against them (until very recently) by the legal authority.

It might further sound real strange to know that most of those journalists have heard about their indictments from the press first (and not the authority).

This situation with disputable arrests and prolonged detainments have to do with several points that urgently need to be taken care of by the political authority (AKP) – and no one else surely.First, there are changes that need to be made to current legislation – which is underway as the issue is on the agenda of the parliament at the moment.

Second, the interpretation (hence application) standards and performance of the courts (judges and prosecutors) of the legal provisions need to be upgraded to help them make right and fair decisions.

And last but not the least, the government needs to amend/upgrade its own interpretation and practice regarding the making and functioning of legal code in regards.

The reason being the government is having a difficult time trying to maintain the impression/image that AKP (in power) does not resort to the benefits granted by the power of ruling currently, to manipulate situations in its favor when and where need be.

To brief, the ruling party is capable and should thus be responsible to correct and ugrade the shortcomings of the democratic application in Turkey.

Otherwise, bragging that AKP has had the honor of bringing true democracy to Turkey would be no further than a fairy tale. Because, supporters of said party with truly clean conscience  even need to say that democracy is not something that applies when the benefits of the powerful are in question but it should apply in all cases and certainly when the benefits of the weak are in question too – regardless if it suits the benefits of the powerful.

And finally we know and believe democracy is not “a tram that you get on, to get off when you arrive at the desired station” as worded by the prime minister several years ago.

The theme is democracy could be a bigger word to use than it is pronounced or spelled and one should think many times before using it.

Editor
BUSINESS TURKEY TODAY