IPS Communication Foundation – Bianet

In his letter from prison, “Die Welt” journalist Deniz Yücel has written that the conditions were better than in detention and that he still had to laugh about the reason for his arrest.

Police raided the homes of Cumhuriyet Daily Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, President of the Executive Board Akın Atalay and Cumuhuriyet Foundation Executive Board member and writer Güray Öz.

Aslı Erdoğan has had to endure solitary confinement, sleeping on a urinated bed, and lack of water and medicines. Just one more in the growing list of abuses against writers and journalists in Recep Erdoğan’s post attempted coup Turkey.

The trial of Cumhuriyet daily’s editor-in-chief Can Dündar and its Ankara representative, Erdem Gül, has been adjourned until April 1. The trial will be held in a closed court on the basis that state secrets will be discussed.

Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, of Cumhuriyet newspaper, were released after Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that their rights to personal liberty and freedom of expression had been violated.

The offices of Yeni Şafak and Yeni Akit newspapers were attacked by masked individuals on the morning of 11 February 2016.

Investigation warrants have been issued for 21 academics from Kocaeli University who signed a declaration led by a group called Academics for Peace. They are being accused of “overtly insulting the Turkish nation.”

In this letter to Turkish President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Davutoğlu, members of the South East European Network for Professionalization of Media, express grave concerns over the Turkish government’s flagrant violations of media freedoms.