According to the Ministry of Justice, freedom of expression in Turkey is not being restricted and only 4 out of 63 imprisoned journalists are behind bars because of their writings. Turan Özlu form National Channel who was arrested this week is the 64th journalist in prison.
According to a study carried out by the Ministry of Justice upon the request of the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS), 18 out of 63 journalists in prison are convicted. The TGS submitted a list with the names of a total of 72 persons to the Ministry of Justice and requested information on these people’s situations. TGS President Ercan İpekçi toldbianet that the difference in numbers was corrected after a comparison of data.
The Ministry announced that the argument saying “press freedom in Turkey has been restricted in recent times” did not reflect the truth.
The Ministry declared, “The Turkish Journalists Union had a list of 72 names defined as detained and convicted. Three of them were not registered in any prison; six persons were released. 63 people of the list are still being imprisoned. Trials were opened against 36, 18 of whom were convicted. Investigations about 27 people are still going on. 18 of the 63 persons in prisons hold a press card; 45 people do not have a press card”.
According to the Ministry of Justice, freedom of expression in Turkey is not being restricted and only 4 out of 63 imprisoned journalists are behind bars because of their writings. Turan Özlu form National Channel who was arrested this week is the 64th journalist in prison.
According to a study carried out by the Ministry of Justice upon the request of the Turkish Journalists Union (TGS), 18 out of 63 journalists in prison are convicted. The TGS submitted a list with the names of a total of 72 persons to the Ministry of Justice and requested information on these people’s situations. TGS President Ercan İpekçi toldbianet that the difference in numbers was corrected after a comparison of data.
The Ministry announced that the argument saying “press freedom in Turkey has been restricted in recent times” did not reflect the truth.
The Ministry declared, “The Turkish Journalists Union had a list of 72 names defined as detained and convicted. Three of them were not registered in any prison; six persons were released. 63 people of the list are still being imprisoned. Trials were opened against 36, 18 of whom were convicted. Investigations about 27 people are still going on. 18 of the 63 persons in prisons hold a press card; 45 people do not have a press card”.
TGS President İpekçi reminded that Turan Özlü, General Publications Director of the National Channel who was arrested this week, constituted number 64 on the list. The Ministry declared that the number of journalists imprisoned on the grounds of their writings amounted to four. The list also includes the owner of Kanal B, Mehmet Haberal.
İpekçi indicated that the majority of people on the list had not been considered as journalists until today. “The Ministry is denying itself with this statement”, he said and criticized the Ministry for claiming that “it is impossible to interpret the decisions on detentions and convictions that are not based on allegations related to journalistic activities as violations of press freedom”.
Source: Bianet.org