President Erdoğan launched a message for January 10, Working Journalists’ Day. The message claimed that their 16-year political power has “made the press more libertarian.” However, numbers disprove Erdoğan’s claims.
According to the data of Turkish Journalists Association (TGS), 142 journalists and press representatives entered the new year in prison. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Turkey is the country imprisoning the most number of journalists for the last three years. Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries according to the Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The journalists were sentenced to a total of 492 years, 11 months and eight days of imprisonment due to charges such as “slander,” “insult” and terrorist organization membership/propaganda; heavy life sentences were issued against five journalists due to “violating the Constitution.” Hundreds of websites were banned to access; Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) penalized TV channels with fines for millions of TLs. On the other hand, Erdoğan targets artists, academics and rights advocates and journalists at every opportunity. These names face judicial investigations a short time after Erdoğan’s statements.
09.01.2019
evrensel.net