Articles by IPS Communication Foundation – Bianet
Journalist released after two nights in jail for “insulting” former vice-governor of Mus province
(BIANET/IFEX) – A journalist sentenced to a jail term of one year and nine months for alleging the involvement of former Mus Vice-Governor Ibrahim Kücük in corruption, has been released after spending only two nights and a day in prison following a court review under the new Turkish Penal Code, which pronounced him not guilty. […]
State connections to murder of journalist Hrant Dink being ignored, warns BIANET; defamation case against Dink’s lawyer dismissed
(BIANET/IFEX) – There is continuing reluctance by the authorities to link the different trials in Trabzon, Samsun and Istanbul concerning the murder of journalist Hrant Dink. Senior police and gendarmerie officers are still not on trial. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecution has decided that it lacks jurisdiction in the criminal complaints filed against Trabzon’s former […]
Media group sues nationalist newspaper for making two of its women journalists public targets of hatred
(BIANET/IFEX) – The Dogan media group is filing a suit against the nationalist “Halka ve Olaylara Tercüman” (“Interpreter of the People and Events”) newspaper for making two of its journalists, Perihan Magden and Ece Temelkuran, public targets of hatred. The media group’s lawyers filed a complaint with the Bakirköy Chief Public Prosecution on 7 February […]
Journalist Ibrahim Tig acquitted after five-year trial
(BIANET/IFEX) – After questioning the expenditures of a district governor in the Devrek district of Zonguldak, journalist Ibrahim Tig, who writes for “Bölge Haber” (“Regional News”), published in the same district, faced a five-year long trial before being acquitted on 30 January 2008. The journalist had been charged with insulting the Devrek district governor (kaymakam), […]
Access to YouTube website blocked three times in January over content “disrespectful of Turkishness”
(BIANET/IFEX) – After courts in Ankara and Sivas blocked access to the international video-sharing website YouTube in mid-January 2008, a court in Izmir blocked access to the site again on 30 January. The ban was subsequently lifted. On 17 January, the Ankara Twelfth Criminal Court of Peace ordered that access to YouTube be blocked. A […]
ECHR orders government to compensate free expression activist for imprisonment over statement on conscientious objector
(BIANET/IFEX) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has sentenced Turkey to pay Sanar Yurdatapan 3,500 Euros in compensation for violating his freedom of expression. He had been sentenced to two months’ imprisonment for a statement supporting conscientious objector Osman Murat Ülke. Yurdatapan, spokesperson for the Initiative against Crimes of Thought, was awarded 2,000 […]
Nine small newspapers fined for “influencing judiciary” in case of murdered publishing house employees; journalists investigated for publishing information on same case
(BIANET/IFEX) – Nine local newspapers, none with a circulation over 4,000, have been fined for “influencing the judiciary” in the Malatya murder case. The newspapers are refusing to pay and will collaborate on appealing the decision. The newspapers, which published a news item by the Ihlas News Agency (IHA) concerning the murders at the Zirve […]
Newspapers fined heavily for reporting on detained soldiers
(BIANET/IFEX) – In November 2007, the Gendarmerie Public Order Corps Command Military Court in Van, in rsouth-eastern Turkey, ordered a ban on all broadcasting and publication of information elated to the investigation of eight soldiers taken hostage by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on 21 October 2007 and released two weeks later. They were arrested […]