Turkey
Turkey takes a step back from democracyPosted Mar 16 2011
Turkish journalists Ahmet Sik, far left, and Nedim Sener, center, arrive at a court in Istanbul on March 5, 2011. Sik and Sener are two of the most prominent journalists to have been arrested by the government for allegedly having links to an anti-government conspiracy group. (AP Photo: Ozan Guzelce, Milliyet)
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The arrest of prominent Turkish journalists over the last two weeks has sparked a debate on the state of democracy in the country. The government has also invited criticism from the European Union and the United States for its actions. The European Parliament criticized Turkey for the assault on press freedom. Turkey is aiming to become a part of the EU.
Nedim Sener, an investigative reporter and recipient of the International Press Institute’s World Press Freedom Hero Award was arrested on March 3, according to an Agence France-Presse report. Nine other journalists were also arrested that day, among them Ahmet Sik, a reporter on human rights. A total of 68 journalists are currently in custody and according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 12 journalists have been arrested within a month.
On March 13, thousands of journalists took to the streets of Istanbul to protest the recent arrests of their colleagues and to raise the issue of press freedom.
Activists, intellectuals and opposition party members joined the journalists in central Istanbul. According to an AFP photographer they carried signs that read, “Freedom to journalists,” “No to wire tappings,” and “Justice right now.”
The government crackdown is part of an ongoing criminal inquiry, called the Ergenekon investigation. According to the Turkish government, Ergenekon is a secular organization made up of anti-nationalist members who want to overthrow the Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) led-government. However, the existence of the organization has not been proved, according to several reports.
Sener, Sik and the others were arrested under suspicion of having ties to Ergenekon. Since the case was opened in 2007, more than 200 suspects have been arrested, including army officers, politicians and professors, according to a story in Der Spiegel.
The human rights organization Freedom House called the arrest of journalists an “alarming threat to press freedom.” Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the national media of aiding in the destruction of Turkey’s image.
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reported “[Erdoğan] called on the international press to look closer at the events in Turkey, accusing Turkish journalists of assisting terrorist organizations in the country, and warning that the situation in Turkey is being reflected incorrectly by the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.”