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OSCE says Press Law changes limit media freedom in Turkey

Dunja Mijatović, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media, has said recent change in the Press Law and Internet restrictions risk to further limit free expression and access to information in Turkey. 

 In a letter to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Mijatović expressed concern over the May 2 decision of the Constitutional Court to amend the Press Law allowing prosecutors to file criminal cases against journalists years after their articles are published. The annulled Article 26 of the law limited prosecution to two months from the date of publication in a daily newspaper or four months in other print media.

“If unchanged, this ruling will mean journalists expressing critical views will work under the permanent threat of criminal lawsuits being initiated against them,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

In addition, Mijatović is concerned that the government plans to introduce mandatory content filtering for all Internet users in Turkey. Based on a regulation of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), as of Aug. 22, Internet users will have to choose among one of four Internet filtering packages. All the packages will block certain websites, and the filtering criteria will not be made public.

Dunja Mijatović, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media, has said recent change in the Press Law and Internet restrictions risk to further limit free expression and access to information in Turkey. 

 In a letter to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Mijatović expressed concern over the May 2 decision of the Constitutional Court to amend the Press Law allowing prosecutors to file criminal cases against journalists years after their articles are published. The annulled Article 26 of the law limited prosecution to two months from the date of publication in a daily newspaper or four months in other print media.

“If unchanged, this ruling will mean journalists expressing critical views will work under the permanent threat of criminal lawsuits being initiated against them,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

In addition, Mijatović is concerned that the government plans to introduce mandatory content filtering for all Internet users in Turkey. Based on a regulation of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), as of Aug. 22, Internet users will have to choose among one of four Internet filtering packages. All the packages will block certain websites, and the filtering criteria will not be made public.

Source: Sundays Zaman