Yavuz Selim Demirağ and İdris Özyol were hospitalised with head injuries after separate violent attacks in mid-May. IFEX members call on the authorities to ensure journalists’ safety in the run-up to the June mayoral elections in Istanbul.
IFEX members join the Cartoonist Rights Network International in calling for freedom for Musa Kart, recently reimprisoned with 5 colleagues from Turkish dailey Cumhuriyet.
All language versions of the Wikipedia website have been banned since April 2017. The Turkish authorities say they imposed the ban after Wikipedia refused to remove an article alleging Turkish government support for terrorist groups in Syria.
Following a failed appeal in February against their terrorism-related convictions, cartoonist Musa Kart and 5 administrative staff were sent back to prison.
In February, an appeals court upheld the sentences handed to 14 ‘Cumhuriyet’ journalists in 2018. Those sentenced to more than 5 years can still appeal to the Supreme Court; however, sentences of less than 5 years are considered final.
Önderoğlu and fellow defendants, Şebnem Korur Fincancı and Ahmet Nesin, face possible jail sentences on charges of “terrorist propaganda”, “condoning crime” and “inciting crime”.
As well as censoring many critical news sites, the authorities occasionally block entire online platforms such as Blogspot and SoundCloud; Wikipedia has been inaccessible in Turkey since 2017.
IFEX members protest Turkey’s attempts to silence and control foreign media coverage in the country.
The accused face a possible sentence of life in prison without parole on multiple charges, including the central charge of “attempting to overthrow the government or partially or wholly prevent its functions”.
Originally imposed in November 2017 under Turkey’s state of emergency, the ban remains in place despite the end of emergency rule in July 2018.
Forty-seven MEPs and 14 press freedom groups joined a resolution underscoring the lack of effective domestic legal remedies for journalists targeted in Turkey’s media crackdown.
Women journalists face physical and psychological attacks on a daily basis.
Journalist and poet Nedim Türfent was sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail in December 2017 on trumped-up terrorism charges.
In 34 percent of the trials observed, the defendant was forced to appear via a courtroom video link, which in some cases malfunctioned, preventing any hearing participation at all.