Turkey

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information released by RSF on 22 April 1998, on 21 April 1998, members of the police, both in uniform and plainclothes, forced journalists to leave a courtroom in Aydin (in western Turkey). Inside the courtroom a trial of police officers, accused of having tortured a student to death in 1993, was […]

(Freedom House/IFEX) – According to Freedom House, it has been reported that an Italian reporter arrested in southeastern Turkey during a Kurdish separatist protest last month faces up to three years in jail if convicted of links to Kurdish guerrillas, lawyers said on 13 April 1998. “The prosecutors’ office has asked for my client to […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information released by RSF on 14 April 1998, police officers detained Selcuk Manav, sports announcer for the private television chain ATV, on 8 April 1998. The officers beat Manav and dragged him across the field of Ali Sami Yen stadium in Istanbul just before the start of a soccer match. Manav […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, on 20 March 1998, Deputy Chief of Staff Cevik Bir notified journalists for three different daily newspapers that they were banned from covering any events organized by the army: press conferences, visits to military sites or interviews with members of the armed forces. The journalists affected by this ban are […]

(RSF/IFEX) – “Unacceptable! two years to get to this point!…”: it was with these words that Metin Goktepe’s mother reacted to the announcement of the verdict in the trial of the police officers convicted in the death of her son. On 19 March 1998, five of the eleven police officers accused of having beaten Goktepe […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, defense lawyers have asked for acquittals for the eleven police officers accused of the murder of journalist/photographer Metin Goktepe. Goktepe, journalist for the extreme-left daily “Evrensel”, was beaten to death on 8 January 1996 in Istanbul. **Updates IFEX alerts of 17 February; 9 January 1998; 1 December, 10 November, 9 […]

(IPI/IFEX) – According to IPI, on 5 March 1998, a court sentenced Aydin Koral, a journalist for the pro-Islamic newspaper “Selam”, to nearly two years in prison. The judge ruled that an article written by Koral, which criticized growing ties between Turkey and Israel, was a threat to national security. IPI believes that the jailing […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, on 8 March 1998, journalists Faruk Aktas and Bulent Acar of the daily Kurdish newspaper “Ulkede Gundem” were detained along with at least fifty other people at an International Women’s Day demonstration in Taksim Square, Istanbul. Aktas and Acar were covering the event. The two journalists have been detained at […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 27 February 1998, representatives of CPJ and the Press Council of Turkey urged Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz to accelerate pending reforms of Turkish press laws and to request an immediate review of 12 cases of imprisoned reporters and editors, who the two groups say have been convicted on the basis of their […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is the full text of a press release issued by RSF. On the eve of President Suleyman Demirel’s visit to France, RSF issues a reminder that in 1997 close to twenty journalists were tortured in Turkey. More than 250 of their colleagues were taken in for questioning or were imprisoned. Suppression […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – Following is the full text of a 29 January 1998 letter sent by ARTICLE 19 to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The letter expresses concern at a new law under consideration in Turkey which would curb freedom of religious expression. “ARTICLE 19 is extremely concerned about reports that a […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF’s information, on 26 January 1998, Haluk Gerger, a columnist for the pro-Kurdish daily “Ulkede Gundem”, went to the Gudul prison in Ankara to begin serving a one-year sentence for “separatist propaganda.”. He was convicted under Turkey’s anti-terror legislation, and the sentence was confirmed by the Court of Cassation. He was […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 23 January 1998, Ugur Demir, journalist with the daily newspaper “Cumhuriyet”, was taken in for questioning while attending a rally held in the district of Besiktas. During the rally, held to commemorate the murder of Ugur Mumcu, another “Cumhuriyet” reporter who was killed in a 1993 bomb attack, Demir was apprehended by […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – On 16 January 1998, ARTICLE 19 unequivocally condemned the banning by Turkey’s constitutional court of the Welfare Party and the prohibition of its leaders from political activity. Said Essoulami, head of ARTICLE 19’s Middle East programme, responded to this action by commenting that “today, four million Turkish citizens have been disenfranchised. Experience […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In an 8 January 1998 press release, RSF recalls that, on 8 January 1996, Metin Goktepe, a journalist with the extreme left daily “Evrensel”, was beaten to death by police in Istanbul (see IFEX alerts). Two years later and after twelve hearings, the trial of the eleven police officers accused of the murder […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 16 December 1997, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged President Bill Clinton to stress the United States’ concerns about the lack of press freedom in Turkey in his meeting with Prime Minister Mezut Yilmaz on 18 December. “We want Turkey to live up to the long-term promises it made to CPJ […]